Ten-Hit Wonders

These are, in my humble opinion, the ten best one-hit wonders to grace the swimsuit issue in this blog’s ten-year history.

#10 Georgia Gibbs (2018)

First appearance: February 28, 2018, Models Named in Suit

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#9 Lauren Mellor (2014)

First appearance: December 6, 2013, Copycats

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#8 Kenza Fourati (2011)

First appearance: February 12, 2011, Your 2011 Rookies

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#7 Michelle Vawer (2012)

First appearance: November 16, 2011, One-Piece Wednesday: 2012 Mystery Ladies

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#6 Bregje Heinen (2014)

(This swimsuit alone would have gotten her on this list.)

First appearance: June 4 2013, So It Begins

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#5 Sofia Resing (2016)

First appearance: February 17, 2016, Headless Body in Topless Photo

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#4 Cris Urena (2014)

First appearance: December 6, 2013, Copycats

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#3 Chase Carter (2018)

First appearance: January 28, 2018, Turning Back the Pages

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#2 Kelly Gale (2017)

First appearance: February 7, 2017, Christie’s Back

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#1 Raven Lyn (2018)

First appearance: October 19, 2017, Back to Basics

Interesting trivia: The one-hit wonders of the last decade had a Lyn (Raven, 2018) and a Lynn (Tara, 2019) as well as a Ren (Alexis, 2018) and a Renn (Crystal, 2012).

Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1991 Part 2

Now this was a beautiful week. On July 21, 1991, Sara Sampaio was welcomed by a tag team of Judit Masco and Akure Wall.

On September 4, Cris Urena's arrival was overseen by Ashley Richardson.

Kathy's third appearance coincided with Sofia Resing's birth on September 25.

And Kirby Griffin was born on November 14, under the sign of Elle.

Models Named in Suit

Seven years ago, SI made (nearly) all of the models wear gold necklaces bearing their names.

In 2016, they got out the label maker again, this time in the form of black one-piece swimsuits and only for the rookies.

They took a break from that in 2017, but this year they’re back: rookies with their names emblazoned proudly across their silver, black, or pink one-piecers.

I think it’s pretty sexy that they have their names on their suits. It’s like they’ve all been categorized and displayed for my inspection.

Happy One-Piece Wednesday.

That’s the Way the Rookie Crumbles 2017

Five babes enter. Three babes leave.

Biggest disappointment: We lost Sofia Resing, my favorite rookie from last year. I would have happily devoured more of this.

Wear that name proud, sweetheart.

We also lost Tanya Mityushina. For no reason I can explain, she didn’t leave much of an impression on me, though she’s beautiful.

She MAY have ripped off Kate Upton’s nun bikini for this last shot…

My favorite return is clearly Barbara Palvin, who gave us this INSTANT CLASSIC one-piece shot.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Babs seems much more comfortable this year than last. Definitely some of the best shots in the issue. Including lots of butt shots.

 
In fact, the whole issue seems to be rather butt-centric, which I am very happy about.

Hannah Ferguson, you destroy me.

I may crunch the numbers and see if there truly is a higher percentage of butt pics than in previous years. Though that would demand an arduous, thankless journey through hundreds of photos of beautiful, swimsuit-clad women. I wonder if I’m up for it.

Rookies crumbling 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011

Headless Body in Topless Photo

An interesting trend I noticed this year is headless bodies.

(Wait, that sounded morbid.)

Generally in SI pics, even though the focus is clearly on a model’s body, her face is at least in the frame. Or if not her face, at least the back of her head as she gazes off at a distant volcano or something. The exceptions are the “boobcam”/“buttcam” preview shots that the crew sends out all year:

Kate Bock on the boobcam.

Irina Shayk on the buttcam.

…and every once in a blue moon a pic like this one of Heidi Klum.

But several models are featured in 2016 where we couldn’t apprise the eye makeup or hair styling even if we wanted to.

We get the torsos of Hailey Clauson, Hannah Ferguson, and Sofia Resing:

The butts of Chanel Iman, Hannah Ferguson, and Lily Aldridge:

And the, um, Zanzibar of Chrissy Teigen:

I’m torn, because of my usual need to imagine that the swimsuit issue is at least partly about faces and personalities and individuals, not just bodies. On the other hand, these are some great bodies.

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Speaking of Sofia, I think she’s my Rookie of the Year. A gorgeous and vivacious Brazilian. Watch her videos and try not to fall in love with her.

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As for the model search: Can we please keep all six of the entrants?

If not, my preferences are the breathtaking Caroline Kelley and Ebonee Davis.

Caroline gives great hammock.

And I love how Ebonee decided to channel Jarah Mariano:

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Looking from the future to the past, Elle Macpherson got the inaugural Jule Campbell Award. This calls for a massive collection of high-quality, never-before-seen photos of her, right?

I miss when Swim Daily was a regular source of newly unearthed pics and fun writing. Lately it’s just been snake-eating-its-tail links back to the current year’s photos with the occasional tidbit of gossip or upcoming TV appearances. Kelsey Hendrix? Xandria James? Whoever’s on staff over there? I would be happy to wade through all your Elle photos, if you’d just let me in that vault.