Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1996, 1997, 1998

This rounds out all the models I know of who were born during the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Desk Calendar years.

In 1996, Vendela stretched out in a pretty white one-piece and welcomed 2018 rookie Alexis Ren on November 23.

1997 brought us two more 2018 rookies: Robin Holzken (April 19, welcomed by a silver-bikini'd Rebecca Romijn)...

...and Chase Carter (June 10, welcomed by a sand-duned Manon).

And finally, in 1998, Taylor meets Sailor! Sort-of-2018-rookie Sailor Brinkley Cook arrived on July 2, welcomed by Niki Taylor in a pretty green bikini.

And Sailor, who as of this writing is 20 years, 38 weeks, and 5 days old, is the youngest SI swimsuit girl in existence.

That record may be broken in about a month and a half, when we have the full rookie class and all their disturbingly recent birthdays.

Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1995

Stacey Williams ushered in a couple wonderful models in 1995. Unfortunately, I fear they are both destined to be one-hit wonders.


On January 9, Stacey oversaw the arrival of Raven Lyn. Raven was one of the 2018 models I was most excited about, but there's been no word of her participating in the 2019 shoots thus far.

 Hailey Clauson, however, has been accounted for in 2019.

And on March 7, 1995, her birth was celebrated by an underrated one-hit wonder in her own right, Jenny Brunt.

Another one-and-done girl, Solveig, arrived on April 13, heralded by her fellow one-name wonder Vendela.

Stacey's second one-hit wonder of the year is the deeply mourned Kelly Gale, on May 14.

On June 4, Ingrid Seynhaeve welcomed Georgia Gibbs. No sign of Georgia making a return appearance this year.

And finally, we have a week where neither the birthday girl nor the calendar girl is a one-hit wonder. Gigi Hadid (2014, 15, 16) and Kathy Ireland (1984, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, deep breath 96).

Calendar Girls, Revisited: 1994

Ashley Richardson was busy this year, despite the birth of relatively few SI girls.


On March 20, she brought us Vita.

On April 16, she paired up with Vendela and brought us Kate Wasley.

And on October 26, hypnotist Britta Dubbels conjured Rose Bertram. (Thank you, Britta.)

Christie’s Back

And so am I, for a little while.

We have a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model in the damn White House, which I am not happy about, but we can maybe assume she’s one of the few people who doesn’t actively loathe our Twitter-Humper in Chief.

But off the top of my head, Chrissy and Vendela are two SI girls who see right through him, so he loses. Sad!

BTW, welcome back, Chrissy.

Some big news dropped recently in the lead-up to the 2017 issue. Christie Brinkley is back, and she’s brought her two hot daughters with her.

Alexis and Sailor haven’t reached walk-on-water hotness yet.

As it happens, Alexis is also making a return appearance. This is her, accompanying Mom on a shoot for the 1989 issue.

Anyway, happy to see Christie again! She is, after all, the seventh greatest Sports Illustrated swimsuit model of all time, according to an official and unbiased observer of such things. She looks great, however much help she’s getting from angles, touchups, and the such. And her daughters have some great bikini presence.

• • •

Another fascinating bit of news: Rookie of the Year voting is already happening, before the magazine even comes out. That’s better than last year, when the results weren’t announced until … I don’t know, about a week ago.

Anyway, here’s last year’s model search winner Mia Kang:

I think this is an awful picture of a beautiful model. Myla Dalbesio:

In her video, you can see she has a fascinating combination of a long torso with curvy hips. A much more beautiful body than that first photo might have you believe.

The blonde kewpie doll Vita Sidorkina:

Bianca Balti, who strikes me as an early draft of Emily DiDonato:

Danielle Herrington, who strikes me as an early draft of Ariel Meredith:

And then my two favorites. Kelly Gale:

…and Lais Ribeiro:

They both are breathtaking. They have platonic ideals of bikini bodies. I honestly don’t know which is my favorite, but… Well, I don’t consider myself a breast man, but they might be what gives Lais the edge for me.

I guess I’m shallow. Sue me.

Beak-inis

Christie Brinkley apparently got attacked by a bird the other day. Black eye, hospital visit, the whole nine yards.

Let us look at some happier model/bird moments from the swimsuit issue. We covered parrots already, but there are so many other species to represent.

First, let’s get Christie on the path to rehabilitation.

• • •

UPDATE, 5/20/18

I've been in a Myla Dalbesio mood, so I thought I'd update this three-year-old post with a pic of her posing with flamingos in the 2018 issue. (I also added her to my hammocks post.)

• • • 

UPDATE, 10/18/19

Welcome to the flock, Kate Bock. Here she is in 2017.

One-Piece Wednesday: Vendela, 1993

Happy April.

Sure, It's Pi Day, Butt...

...around here we celebrate Butt Appreciation Day. This year, I thought we'd go all Vendela.

 

Besides, I thought all those diners the girls visited along Route 66 this year would be good for at least one photo with pie in it somewhere, but no dice.

Previous Butt Appreciation Days: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014.

Rookie Reveal #5: Solveig

Today's reveal is Solveig.

Is it dismissive to refer to South Africa Swimsuit as SI's minor league system? A lot of rookies have been called up for their cups of coffee. Here Solveig provides a supplemental One-Piece Wednesday from the 2014 South African swimsuit extravaganza.

Solveig (Mørk Hansen) also joins the ranks of SI girls who've abandoned all or part of their last names.

Vendela (Kirsebom)

Manon (von Gerkan)

Anne V(yalitsyna)

Irina Shayk(hlislamova)

Too much confusion over pronunciation? Maybe. But they look as sweet.

A sharp-eyed commenter pointed out that I completely forgot Adaora (Akubilo).