The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel

Supermodel

The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...

 succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising. New issues come out around the middle of February or later. First published in 1964, it is credited with making the bikini

Bikini

The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...

, invented in 1946, a legitimate piece of apparel. The issue that got the most letters was the 1978 issue. The best selling issue was the 25th Anniversary Issue with Kathy Ireland

Kathy Ireland

Kathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland is an American former model, actress, and entrepreneur. She is the CEO and designer of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide.-Life and career:...

 on the cover in 1989.

Through the years many models, such as Cheryl Tiegs

Cheryl Tiegs

Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...

, Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley

Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...

, Paulina Porizkova

Paulina Porizkova

Pavlína Pořízková-Ocasek is a Czech model and actress. At the age of eighteen years, she became the first woman from Central Europe to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated swim-suit issue. She was the second woman to be featured on the swim-suit issue's front cover consecutive times...

, Elle Macpherson

Elle Macpherson

Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...

, Rachel Hunter

Rachel Hunter

Rachel Hunter is a New Zealand born American model, actress and reality TV show host who now resides in the U.S. She is best known for her appearance in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her longtime marriage to singer Rod Stewart, which ended in 2006...

, Rebecca Romijn

Rebecca Romijn

Rebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...

, Petra Nemcova

Petra Nemcová

Petra Němcová is a Czech model, television host, author, and philanthropist. She is the founder and chair of the Happy Hearts Fund. In December 2004, she was injured in Thailand by a tsunami resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake; her fiancé, photographer Simon Atlee, was killed in the...

, Valeria Mazza

Valeria Mazza

Valeria Raquel Mazza Is an Argentine supermodel.She was born in Rosario, Santa Fe, and discovered when she was only 16 years old by hairstylist Roberto Giordano. She rose to fame in 1996 when she appeared on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover with Tyra Banks, Guess and presented the San...

, Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum

Heidi Samuel , better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German model, actress, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and occasional singer. In 2008 she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship...

, Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...

, and Marisa Miller

Marisa Miller

Marisa Lee Miller is an American model best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret. After a stint shooting with photographer Mario Testino for fashion magazines like Vogue, Miller began working for both companies in...

, have been featured on the cover. Other models within its pages, but not on its cover, include Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford

Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...

, Stephanie Seymour

Stephanie Seymour

Stephanie Michelle Seymour is an American model and actress. Seymour has modeled for many notable fashion magazines and designers, and has been photographed by several well-known photographers including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Gilles Bensimon, and Mario Testino.-Career:Born in San Diego,...

, Niki Taylor

Niki Taylor

Nicole Renee "Niki" Taylor is an American model.-Early life:Taylor was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Ken and Barbara Taylor, a highway patrol lieutenant and a photographer, respectively. She was raised in Pembroke Pines, Florida, and attended Cooper City High School...

, Angie Everhart

Angie Everhart

Angela Kay "Angie" Everhart is an American actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Everhart was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of homemaker Ginnie and engineer Bob Everhart. The first of three children, she has a younger brother and a younger sister...

, and Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

. The eight models featured on the cover of the 2006 issue were featured in a coffee-table book called Sports Illustrated: Exposure

Sports Illustrated: Exposure

Sports Illustrated: Exposure is a collection of photographs taken by photographer Raphael Mazzucco in the summer of 2005...

. Photographed by Raphael Mazzucco

Raphael Mazzucco

Raphael Mazzucco or Rafael Mazzucco is a Canadian fashion, art and music photographer. His photographs have appeared on the cover of five consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues, including the 2006, 2008 and 2009 main cover images....

, and produced by Diane Smith, the unprecedented "reunion shoot" featured 139 pages of unpublished images. In 2006, the issue expanded publishing to handheld device

Handheld device

A mobile device is a small, hand-held computing device, typically having a display screen with touch input and/or a miniature keyboard and less than . Early pocket sized ones were joined in the late 2000s by larger but otherwise similar tablet computers...

s. In 2007, the swimsuit issue was first available in China.

History

The swimsuit issue was invented by Sports Illustrated editor Andre Laguerre

André Laguerre

Marc André Laguerre was a journalist and magazine editor, best known as the managing editor of Sports Illustrated from 1960 to 1974, during which time he oversaw the growth in the magazine from a niche publication to become the industry leader in weekly sports magazines...

 to fill the winter months, a typically slow point in the sporting calendar. He asked fashion reporter Jule Campbell to go on a shoot to fill space, including the cover, with a beautiful model. The first issue, released in 1964, entailed a cover featuring Babette March

Babette March

Babette March or simply Babette, who is now known by the name Babette Beatty, was the first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model. She was on the swimsuit issue cover of the January 20, 1964 issue....

 and a five-page layout. Campbell soon became a powerful figure in modeling and molded the issue into a media phenomenon by featuring "bigger and healthier" California women and printing the names of the models with their photos, beginning a new supermodel era. However, the issue did not exclusively feature models until 1997. In the 1950s a few women appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but the 1964 issue is considered to be the beginning of the current format known as the Swimsuit Issue.

Non-models in the magazine

Several female athletes have appeared, though not on the cover. Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf

Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...

 appeared in 1997. In the 2003 issue, tennis player Serena Williams

Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

 and figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva

Ekaterina Gordeeva

Ekaterina "Katia" Alexandrovna Gordeeva is a Russian figure skater. Together with her late partner and husband Sergei Grinkov, she was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion in pair skating...

 were featured inside the magazine. Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova

Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova is a Russian retired professional tennis player. Her beauty and celebrity status made her one of the best known tennis stars worldwide, despite the fact that she never won a WTA singles title. At the peak of her fame, fans looking for images of Kournikova made her name...

 appeared in an inset on the 2004 cover, and had a photo spread within its pages.

In 2005, Olympic gold medallists Amanda Beard

Amanda Beard

Amanda Ray Beard is an American swimmer and a seven-time Olympic medalist . She is a former world record holder in the 200-meter breaststroke ....

 and Jennie Finch

Jennie Finch

Jennie Lynn Finch , who occasionally uses her husband's surname Daigle, is a former American softball player who pitched for the USA national softball team and the Chicago Bandits. Finch helped lead Team USA to the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics...

, along with Lauren Jackson

Lauren Jackson

Lauren Elizabeth Jackson is an Australian professional basketball player. Jackson began her professional career at the Australian Institute of Sport in the WNBL before moving on to the Canberra Capitals. She is currently a forward/centre with the Seattle Storm of the WNBA and the Australian...

 and Venus Williams

Venus Williams

Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

, were featured. Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...

 appeared in an inset on the 2006 cover and had a spread inside. In spring 2006, Sports Illustrated chose music as the theme for the 2007 issue. Swimsuit editor Diane Smith wanted 10-time (16 currently) Grammy-winner Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé Knowles

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...

 to pose. In 2006, Beyoncé launched a swimsuit line under her House of Deréon

House of Deréon

House of Deréon is a ready-to-wear fashion line introduced by singer and actress Beyoncé Knowles and her mother/stylist Tina Knowles. The style and concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name "Deréon" paying tribute to Beyoncé's maternal grandmother, Agnèz Deréon...

 clothing label. Beyoncé Knowles became the first singer, and first non-model, to appear on the cover in 2007.

In 2008, NFL cheerleaders appeared for the first time. Teams include the Buccaneers, Chargers, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, Jaguars, Patriots, Raiders, Redskins and Texans.

Race car driver Danica Patrick

Danica Patrick

Danica Sue Patrick is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing, being the only woman to win in the IndyCar Series as well as holding the highest finish by a woman at the Indianapolis 500 of 3rd...

 appeared in 2008. She was featured in a four-page spread set in Singer Island, Florida

Singer Island, Florida

Singer Island is located on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of is 26.784N and its longitude is -80.037W. The easternmost...

.

For the 2010 issue, four female Winter Olympians appeared in swimsuits: Clair Bidez, Lacy Schnoor

Lacy Schnoor

Lacy Schnoor is an American freestyle skier who has competed since 2003. Her best World Cup was eighth in an aerials event in Canada in 2007....

, Hannah Teter

Hannah Teter

Hannah Teter is an American snowboarder from Belmont, Vermont. She is an Olympic champion, having won the gold medal in halfpipe at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. She also won bronze at the 2005 FIS World Championships at Whistler, British Columbia, and has six World Cup victories...

, and Lindsey Vonn as well as Ana Ivanović

Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanović is a former world no. 1 Serbian tennis player. As of November 7, 2011, she is ranked 22th on the WTA rankings. She beat Dinara Safina to win the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open...

.

Reception

To many, the magazine is an acceptable exhibition of female sexuality not out of place on a coffee table

Coffee table book

A coffee table book is a hardcover book that is intended to sit on a coffee table or similar surface in an area where guests sit and are entertained, thus inspiring conversation or alleviating boredom. They tend to be oversized and of heavy construction, since there is no pressing need for...

. Recent editions have mixed the modeling with a tribute to sportsmen. The swimsuit edition is controversial with both moralists who subscribe for sports news content as well as those who feel that the focus on fashion and swimsuit modeling is inappropriate for a sports magazine. Also feminists have expressed that "the Swimsuit Issue promotes the harmful and dehumanizing concept that women are a product for male consumption." Subscriptions have been canceled by subscribers when it arrives. The 1978 edition, remembered for its fishnet bathing suit made famous by Cheryl Tiegs

Cheryl Tiegs

Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...

, resulted in 340 cancellations. Sports Illustrated makes the controversy a form of entertainment with the issue two weeks after the swimsuit edition packed with complainants such as shocked parents and troubled librarians. Recently, the number of cancellations has declined. Nonetheless, to avoid controversy, Sports Illustrated has, since 2007, offered its subscribers the option of skipping the swimsuit edition for a one issue credit to extend their subscription by a week.

On the cover

The 2008- 2011 covergirls were announced on Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...

.

Cover history

Most covers by model

Model	Number of covers: issues
Elle Macpherson Elle Macpherson Elle Macpherson is an Australian model, actress, and businesswoman nicknamed "The Body". She is perhaps best known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s...	5: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1994, 2006
Christie Brinkley Christie Brinkley Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...	3: 1979, 1980, 1981
Kathy Ireland Kathy Ireland Kathleen Marie "Kathy" Ireland is an American former model, actress, and entrepreneur. She is the CEO and designer of her eponymous brand product marketing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide.-Life and career:...	3: 1989, 1992, 1994
Cheryl Tiegs Cheryl Tiegs Cheryl Rae Tiegs is an American model and actress.- Early years :Tiegs was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota but raised in Alhambra, California, and she graduated from Alhambra High School in 1965. She also attended the California State University, Los Angeles and became a little sister to the Sigma...	3: 1970, 1975, 1983
Daniela Pestova Daniela Peštová Daniela Peštová is a Czech model. She was born in Teplice, Czech Republic, and was discovered by the Madison Modeling Agency's Dominique Caffin. She had plans to attend college but after winning a modelling contest she moved to Paris to sign with Madison Modeling Agency...	3: 1995, 2000, 2006
Paulina Porizkova Paulina Porizkova Pavlína Pořízková-Ocasek is a Czech model and actress. At the age of eighteen years, she became the first woman from Central Europe to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated swim-suit issue. She was the second woman to be featured on the swim-suit issue's front cover consecutive times...	2: 1984, 1985
Tyra Banks Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...	2: 1996, 1997
Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter Rachel Hunter is a New Zealand born American model, actress and reality TV show host who now resides in the U.S. She is best known for her appearance in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her longtime marriage to singer Rod Stewart, which ended in 2006...	2: 1994, 2006
Rebecca Romijn Rebecca Romijn Rebecca Alie Romijn is an American actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her role as Mystique in the X-Men films, and for her recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series Ugly Betty.-Early life:...	2: 1999, 2006
Elsa Benitez Elsa Benítez Elsa Benítez is a Mexican model perhaps best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, including appearing on the cover in 2001.-Career:...	2: 2001, 2006
Yamila Diaz-Rahi	2: 2002, 2006
Veronica Varekova	2: 2004, 2006
Carolyn Murphy Carolyn Murphy Carolyn Murphy is an American model and actress.-Biography:Carolyn Murphy was born in Panama City, Florida and grew up mainly in Northwest Florida, with brief periods in England and Maryland, as a result of her parents’ divorce. Her career began when at the age of 16, her mother enrolled her in a...	2: 2005, 2006

Locations

The swimsuit issue was once predominantly shot in one country per year. As the issue has grown in size, the number of locations has also increased.

• 1964 – Cozumel
  Cozumel
  Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the ten municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...
  
  
• 1965 – Baja California
  Baja California
  Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
  
  
• 1966 – Bahamas
• 1967 – Arizona
  Arizona
  Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
  
  
• 1968 – French Polynesia
  French Polynesia
  French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
  
  
• 1969 – Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
  
  
• 1970 – Hawaii
  Hawaii
  Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
  
  
• 1971 – Dominican Republic
  Dominican Republic
  The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
  
  
• 1972 – Marina del Rey
• 1973 – Bahamas
• 1974 – Puerto Rico
• 1975 – Cancún
  Cancún
  Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...
  
  
• 1976 – Baja California
• 1977 – Maui
  Maui
  The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
  
  
• 1978 – Brazil
  Brazil
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
  
  
• 1979 – Seychelles
  Seychelles
  Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
  
  
• 1980 – British Virgin Islands
  British Virgin Islands
  The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
  
  
• 1981 – Florida
  Florida
  Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
  
  
• 1982 – Kenya
  Kenya
  Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
  
  
• 1983 – Jamaica
  Jamaica
  Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
  
  
• 1984 – Netherlands Antilles
  Netherlands Antilles
  The Netherlands Antilles , also referred to informally as the Dutch Antilles, was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consisting of two groups of islands in the Lesser Antilles: Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao , in Leeward Antilles just off the Venezuelan coast; and Sint...
  
  
• 1985 – Australia
• 1986 – French Polynesia
  French Polynesia
  French Polynesia is an overseas country of the French Republic . It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
  
  
• 1987 – Dominican Republic
• 1988 – Thailand
  Thailand
  Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
  
  
• 1989 – Mexico
  Mexico
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
  
  , Seychelles, Kenya, Lake Powell
  Lake Powell
  Lake Powell is a huge reservoir on the Colorado River, straddling the border between Utah and Arizona . It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing of water when full...
  
  , Kauai
  Kauai
  Kauai or Kauai, known as Tauai in the ancient Kaua'i dialect, is geologically the oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands. With an area of , it is the fourth largest of the main islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, and the 21st largest island in the United States. Known also as the "Garden Isle",...
  
  , St. Barts
• 1990 – The Grenadines, Windward Islands
  Windward Islands
  The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the...
  
  
• 1991 – Cruise theme – Turks & Caicos, Bali
  Bali
  Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
  
  , St. Barts
• 1992 – Spain
• 1993 – Alaska
  Alaska
  Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
  
  , Florida Keys
  Florida Keys
  The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
  
  , Mackinac Island
  Mackinac Island
  Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European...
  
  , Martha's Vineyard
  Martha's Vineyard
  Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, known for being an affluent summer colony....
  
  , Oahu
  Oahu
  Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
  
  
• 1994 – Pool theme – Southern California
  Southern California
  Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
  
  , Colorado
  Colorado
  Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
  
  , Florida, Bali, Pantelleria
  Pantelleria
  Pantelleria , the ancient Cossyra, is an Italian island in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and just east of the Tunisian coast. Administratively Pantelleria is a comune belonging to the Sicilian province of Trapani...
  
  , Sardinia
  Sardinia
  Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
  
  , St. Maarten, Mexico, Hong Kong
  Hong Kong
  Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
  
  
• 1995 – Bermuda
  Bermuda
  Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
  
  , Costa Rica
  Costa Rica
  Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
  
  
• 1996 – South Africa
  South Africa
  The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
  
  
• 1997 – Bahamas, Monaco
  Monaco
  Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
  
  , Venezuela
  Venezuela
  Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
  
  , Mexico, Malibu
• 1998 – Equator theme – Maldives
  Maldives
  The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
  
  , Kenya, Indonesia
  Indonesia
  Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
  
  , Galápagos Islands
  Galápagos Islands
  The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...
  
  , Ecuador
  Ecuador
  Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
  
  
• 1999 – Necker Island
  Necker Island (British Virgin Islands)
  Necker Island is a small island in the British Virgin Islands just north of Virgin Gorda, located at . All of the land on the island is owned by Sir Richard Branson, famous for his Virgin brand, and it is part of the Virgin Limited Edition portfolio of luxury properties...
  
  , Guana Island
  Guana Island
  Guana Island is an island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. One of the few remaining privately-owned islands in its part of the world, Guana has seven white powder-sand beaches and of tropical forest, mountains, hills, and valleys...
  
  
• 2000 – Pacific theme – Malaysia, Oahu, Maui, Mexico
• 2001 – Tunisia
  Tunisia
  Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
  
  , Greece, Italy, Bahamas, Las Vegas
  Las Vegas Strip
  The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
  
  
• 2002 – Latin theme – Mexico, Guatemala
  Guatemala
  Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
  
  , Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina
  Argentina
  Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
  
  , Spanish Harlem
  Spanish Harlem
  East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem and El Barrio, is a section of Harlem in the northeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. East Harlem is one of the largest predominantly Latino communities in New York City. It includes the area formerly known as Italian Harlem, in which...
  
  
• 2003 – Barbados
  Barbados
  Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
  
  , Kenya, Turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  , Florida Keys, Colorado, Vietnam
  Vietnam
  Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
  
  , Grenada
  Grenada
  Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
  
  
• 2004 – Montauk, New York
  Montauk, New York
  Montauk [ˈmɒntɒk] is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 3,851 as of 2000...
  
  , Saranac Lake, New York
  Saranac Lake, New York
  Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
  
  , Mississippi
  Mississippi
  Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
  
  , Wyoming
  Wyoming
  Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
  
  , Arizona, Bouton, Iowa
  Bouton, Iowa
  Bouton is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 136 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Bouton is located at ....
  
  , Perry, Iowa
  Perry, Iowa
  Perry is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States, along the North Raccoon River. The population was 7,633 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area....
  
  
• 2005 – Bahamas, Honduras
  Honduras
  Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
  
  , Croatia
  Croatia
  Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
  
  , Chile
  Chile
  Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
  
  , Thailand, Costa Rica, Belize
  Belize
  Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
  
  
• 2006 – Hollywood, Tahiti
  Tahiti
  Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
  
  , Las Vegas, Colombia
  Colombia
  Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
  
  , Bahamas, Palm Springs
  Palm Springs
  Palm Springs is a desert city in CaliforniaPalm Springs may also refer to:* Palm Springs, Florida* Palm Springs, Hong Kong, a residential development in Yuen Long, Hong Kong* Coachella Valley, also known as the Palm Springs area...
  
  
• 2007 – Music theme – Florida, Memphis, Tennessee
  Memphis, Tennessee
  Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
  
  , Jamaica, Brazil, Maui, Grambling, Louisiana
  Grambling, Louisiana
  Grambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,693 at the 2000 census. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area....
  
  , Los Angeles, Arizona, Cleveland, Ohio
  Cleveland, Ohio
  Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
  
  
• 2008 – St. Petersburg, Russia, Singer Island, Florida
  Singer Island, Florida
  Singer Island is located on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of is 26.784N and its longitude is -80.037W. The easternmost...
  
  , Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
  Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands
  Saint John is an island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. St...
  
  , Maui
  Maui
  The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
  
  , Nicaragua
  Nicaragua
  Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
  
  , Cayman Islands
  Cayman Islands
  The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
  
  , Turks & Caicos, Israel
  Israel
  The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
  
  
• 2009 – Mexico
  Mexico
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
  
  , Canary Islands
  Canary Islands
  The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
  
  , The Grenadines, Naples
  Naples
  Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
  
  , Turkey
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  
• 2010 – Whistler, Canada, Atacama, Chile, Rajasthan, India, Maldives
  Maldives
  The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
  
  , Palm Springs, California
  Palm Springs, California
  Palm Springs is a desert city in Riverside County, California, within the Coachella Valley. It is located approximately 37 miles east of San Bernardino, 111 miles east of Los Angeles and 136 miles northeast of San Diego...
  
  , Lisbon, Portugal
• 2011 – Peter Island, British Virgin Islands
  Peter Island
  The 720 hectare Peter Island, is a private island located in the British Virgin Islands , about 5.2 miles south-west from Road Harbour , Tortola...
  
  , Fiji
  Fiji
  Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
  
  , Boracay Island, The Philippines, Singapore
  Singapore
  Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
  
  , Hawaii
  Hawaii
  Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
  
  

Swimsuit Video, the Swimsuit Issue on video and in television specials

Beginning in the late 1980s, Sports Illustrated allowed television specials to be aired which were later released as video versions of its Swimsuit Issue. The first releases were available on VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 or Laser Disc (LD), and later releases have been available on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

.

In 1989, The Making of the Sports Illustrated 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Issue was a television documentary by Home Box Office (HBO) which later became available on VHS by Maysles Films. In 1992, a behind-the-scenes made-for-HBO special documentary was released on VHS as the Sports Illustrated Behind the Scenes: Official Swimsuit Video. In 1993, Sports Illustrated: The 1993 Swimsuit Video was released by HBO films. The next year, Sports Illustrated 1994 Swimsuit Issue Video was released on video by Dakota North Entertainment. Since then, the annual video version of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has been called the Swimsuit Video. In 1995, Sports Illustrated began distributing television specials based on the issue, titled '[Year] Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Special'. The hour-long specials have aired on Spike TV

Spike TV

Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

 and TNT and Minisodes

The Minisode Network

The Minisode Network is a Sony Pictures Television internet television network launched in June 2007. The term minisode is a portmanteau of "mini" and "episode." Unlike webisodes, which are initially broadcast on the internet, minisodes are condensed versions of previously broadcast, full length,...

 of several specials from 2002–2004 are available on Crackle

Crackle

Crackle is a digital network and studio, featuring commercially supported streaming video content in Flash Video format. It is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and its content consists primarily of Sony's library of films and television shows...

.
In 2004, the Sports Illustrated 40th Anniversary Swimsuit Special: American Beauty featured videos of the swimsuit beauties at various US locations, some of which are not usually thought of as beaches: e.g., the host Melissa Keller

Melissa Keller

Melissa Keller is an American model and actress.Keller began her modeling career when she was 15 years old and has modeled for Parasuco, Noxzema, GAP, Revlon, L'Oréal, Aveda, and for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2002, 2003, and 2004...

 and Marisa Miller

Marisa Miller

Marisa Lee Miller is an American model best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret. After a stint shooting with photographer Mario Testino for fashion magazines like Vogue, Miller began working for both companies in...

 at the grain elevator

Grain elevator

A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...

 in Bouton, Iowa

Bouton, Iowa

Bouton is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 136 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Bouton is located at ....

, and on a farm near Perry, Iowa

Perry, Iowa

Perry is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States, along the North Raccoon River. The population was 7,633 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Des Moines–West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area....

. The more recent videos have included some "uncensored" scenes.

For January 2005, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 produced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search is a reality TV show produced by NBC that debuted in January 2005, prior to the launch of that year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue....

, a reality TV show documenting twelve previously-unknown fashion models

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 as they competed against one another over five weeks for the grand prize: a pictorial in the 2005 edition of the Swimsuit Issue and a modeling contract with NEXT Model Management

NEXT Model Management

NEXT Model Management is a Global modeling agency with offices in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan and Paris. Founded in 1989 by Faith Kates, the agency is one of the top 3 model agencies in the world...

 worth one million US dollars. Alicia Hall

Alicia Hall

Alicia Hall is an American model and winner of NBC's 2005 reality TV show Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model Search.- Biography :...

 won the competition.

Prior to the release of the 2011 issue, DirectTV aired a preview special on the 101 Network, revealing the models in that year's edition. The show was hosted by former ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 anchor and current SI columnist Dan Patrick

Dan Patrick

Daniel Patrick Pugh , professionally known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster, radio personality, and actor from Mason, Ohio...

 and former SI swimsuit model Mallory Snyder

Mallory Snyder

Mallory Snyder is an American model best known for her participation on MTV's reality television program The Real World: Paris and her work as a swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated.-Early life:...

.

External links

• SI.com
• SI.com – SI Swimsuit 2008
• SI.com – Swimsuit Collection
• Bingham: A history of SI's swimsuit issue
• (Video)CNBC Originals : Business Model inside the sports illustrated swimsuit issue. Reported by Darren Rovell. Season 2 : Ep. 7. 43:23.