It Was Inevitable

Kate Upton is your 2012 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue cover girl.Wow. About a year and a half ago, I wondered if the trend was going to be toward larger bikini bottoms. This seems to be a resounding "no."

Frankly, I think those bottoms are a little too skimpy. They might have crossed over from "sexy" to "look what we can get away with." I don't know. Maybe I need time to digest. (And maybe swimsuit issue covers aren't the place to look for subtlety.)

Kate is not the first girl to jump from rookie one year to cover the next. She joins a small club of models who made the cover in their sophomore years.
Carol Alt
Debut: 1981. Cover: 1982.
Paulina Porizkova
Debut: 1983. Cover: 1984.
Elle Macpherson
Debut: 1985. Cover: 1986.
Vendela
Debut: 1992. Cover: 1993.
Tyra Banks*
Debut: 1993. Cover: 1996.*Tyra skipped a couple years after rookiehood, then came roaring back with two consecutive covers.

Carolyn Murphy
Debut: 2004. Cover: 2005.(And yes, there's a handful of models who have made the cover their first time out.)

In other news, Hot Clicks has revealed that Bar Refaeli will be posing with athletes this year.
(That face is Hot Clicks author Jimmy Traina, by the by.)

I have nothing against hunky, shirtless guys per se, but I do hope there are plenty of dude-free photos of Bar this year. It would be a shame to have any obstacles in the way of her.

According to the cover, there are 18 models this year. That's one more than last year. Here's a nice preview of Alyssa Miller.Her hair is significantly lighter.

What else? If you need a little appetizer, Kate has a new photoshoot, video, and interview at Esquire.com.Good grief. That girl is so sexy it isn't even funny.

Seal Without a Kiss

Carol Alt tweeted today:That's a shame. I don't follow their personal lives at all, but I got the feeling they'd be one of the celebrity couples that would last.Well, best wishes to both of them. And I'd be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to post a photo of a paint-bikini-clad Heidi Klum.Oh, and thanks to her fellow cover model for breaking the news.

Happy Birthday, Carol Alt

My newest Twitter follower is 51.

I Don't Mean to Brag, But...

I do have a Twitter account, but there's not much in the way of tweets. (I use it to follow, not to be followed.) Still, Ms. Alt, it is an honor.

One-Piece Wednesday: Carol Alt, 1989

It's been a week of brand-new photos, so let's kick it back a couple of decades with Carol Alt from the 25th Anniversary issue.

Rebus Greetings

Vote Hilary in 2011

The swimsuit issue Facebook page made a big deal the other day about revealing who one of the 2011 models would be. Readers were invited to guess at who she was based on this photo:
Later, the answer was revealed: Hilary Rhoda:
It will be her third year, and I’m happy she’s back. She’s gorgeous. She’s a worthy successor to that Carol Alt dark-hair-blue-eyes look.Gosh.
She also has something else to recommend her. And it isn’t just the fact that her name looks like someone tried to spell the name of the Secretary of State and got bored halfway through.

I have a thing for women with their legs together. I can’t fully explain it, but I think it has something to do with how feminine a pose it is. I particularly like when a woman is standing with her legs straight and crossed over each other.

It’s a pose that Hilary has perfected.I fully expect to see more of this pose come February.
“The power is yours Hilary. Use it wisely.”