'Sports Illustrated' Swimsuit Editor Bares All in Brave Bikini Photo
After spending almost 20 years around buxom bikini babes posing on the beach, Sports Illustrated's [...]
Day posted the video as part of @WomenIRL's #WhatIModel campaign.
"Deep. Breath. If I'm going to talk the talk I am going to walk the walk. Please consider participating. It was equally terrifying and liberating for me," Day wrote alongside her bikini video. "Funny how I have spent my life on a beach since childhood and I have never truly felt comfortable in a swimsuit. Even at my thinnest. We need to love ourselves in the present. No matter what."
"This year's issue will showcase the widest diversity of women in SI history," she explained. "Women of all ages, and shapes, and from many different backgrounds. We want to celebrate strength, beauty, and more, so we want to know: What do you model? So I'll kick us off. I model determination. I'm determined to get out the message that there is not a singular definition of beauty."
Day's post comes at a time when the magazine's swimsuit issue is making major strides in the body positive world. Click "next" to see the other strong ladies making SI a space for celebration.
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Meet Hunter McGrady, one of Sports Illustrated's curviest models yet, who posed for the swimsuit issue wearing nothing but body paint.
McGrady thanked Day on Instagram.
"This is a surreal moment for me," McGrady, 23, wrote. "I want to thank @MJ_Day for an opportunity like this and for being a force in this industry and everyone at @si_swimsuit for promoting that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes."
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Not only is SI embracing women of different sizes, but different ages as well. Supermodel Christie Brinkley went back to her roots and posed for the mag — at 63 years old.
Brinkley says knowing her two daughters would be posing alongside her gave her the nerve to get back in front of the camera in a swimsuit.
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Olympic gymnasts Simone Biles and Aly Raisman also graced the pages of the swimsuit issue. This inclusion of strong, professional athletes is a change of pace for the mag, who usually strictly features supermodels.
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Just months after giving birth, @chrissyteigen got BACK in a bikini for SI Swimsuit...
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If all that wasn't enough for you, Chrissy Teigen is featured in the magazine as well, showing off her postpartum body for the first time.
"It's been awhile since I've done anything swimsuit," the 31-year-old said in a special behind-the-scenes clip. "I haven't shot since baby. But of course you know that… everyone at Sports Illustrated in general is going to embrace your body no matter what's happening and embrace the changes."
"As a mother it's nice to be able to be back in your element and it's important to my well-being that I come out and I'm able to do this and do something I'm proud of," she said.
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And we can't forget about Ashley Graham! The plus-size model who graced SI's swimsuit cover last year is back — this time in a spread for Swimsuits For All, a stylish swim line that offers a diverse array of sizes.
With body-positive plus size model Ashley Graham as the face of the beautiful Puerto Rico photo shoot, the campaign actually features non-models sporting Swimsuits For All merch, the first time Sports Illustrated has featured everyday ladies in swimwear.
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Even (three-time) cover girl Kate Upton is excited about the new body positive direction the magazine is taking, saying she underwent a bit of a transformation herself.
Upton spent a lot of time and energy training for the SI cover photo shoot. "I love feeling strong, and strength training has really changed my body," she told People.
"The brand represents, to me, confident, beautiful, sexy women," Upton said. "For Sports Illustrated to be just as passionate as I am to embrace all body types and all different people and all different types of women is really special to me and one of the reasons I'm so excited to be a part of this issue."
Check out all our Womanista Approved swimsuits, from one-pieces to bikinis!
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