The Swimsuit Issue

[DanOregon]

Has the annual SI Swimsuit issue jumped the shark? I don't mind the special issue, but it just seems to be much ado about not much. To quote Bachelor Party, I don't like my filth to be this clean.
I've seen enough of the body painting, athletes wives, athletes and models striking cliched poses or the way its been expanded in the last 10 years has just resulted in overkill.
Sure it's a big advertising boon for the mag, but as they've drifted away from using SI staff photographers (Walter Iooss et. al) it just doesn't seem to be that unique any more.

 

[joe king]

Unique, schmunique ... It's soft-core porn. Does it have to be different or artistic to sell?

 

[Batman]

Back when I was 14 or 15, and I could smuggle the SI into my bedroom for a little ... ahem ... quality time, it was a big deal. Elle MacPherson's wet T-shirts were the stuff of legend. Kitten deaths in Central New Jersey spiked in the early 90s. Stock prices of Charmin soared. Hell, I probably caused global warming because of all the trees that had to be cut down to make more toilet paper.
But now that I have a wife and am old enough to buy my own real porn, it's just another "ho-hum," issue. Doesn't help that the number of wet T-shirts has drastically declined. Body painting doesn't hold a candle to a nice wet T-shirt or see-through bathing suit.
It also doesn't help that culture has coarsened. Kids these days can see the same stuff in the swimsuit issue by wandering the halls of their high school.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Unique, schmunique ... It's soft-core porn. Does it have to be different or artistic to sell?

Given 2girls1cup was an Internet hit and you can find beastiality and bukkake videos via Google, yes soft-core does have to be different AND artistic to draw attention.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

DEAR GOD NO!!! Let's not turn this into a discussion about 2girls1cup.

 

[John]

I'd rather look at Brooklyn Decker in a swimsuit than see any other woman naked. Though seeing Decker naked would be ideal.

 

[slappy4428]

I haven't read the swimsuit issue cover to cover in years. I glance to see the famous and near famous and that's it... sorry, but the issue peaked at Cheryl Tiegs and the white mesh

 

[novelist_wannabe]

I did this same thread either last year or the year before. My conclusion: Irrelevant. When porn is so easily obtained on the internet, the SI swimsuit issue arrives with no cachet at all. Unless, of course, you were actually into it for the swimsuits and the exotic locales. Which you weren't.

Addition, FWIW: I spent more time looking at the handful of photos of Kate Beckinsale in the Esquire I got in the mail three days ago than I did the entire swimsuit issue that arrived yesterday.

 

[BYH]

damn you Dan! I was going to start a thread like this.

good to know I wasn't the only one wondering if the SI swimsuit issue is completely irrelevant in a Maxim world. Difficult to make one issue a year stand out when the newsstands are full of laddy mags (even with the demise of FHM and Stuff). After 40-odd years, it's all been done. Plus, as Batman points out, you can see far filthier stuff by just walking outside.

 

[John]

damn you Dan! I was going to start a thread like this.

good to know I wasn't the only one wondering if the SI swimsuit issue is completely irrelevant in a Maxim world. Difficult to make one issue a year stand out when the newsstands are full of laddy mags (even with the demise of FHM and Stuff). After 40-odd years, it's all been done. Plus, as Batman points out, you can see far filthier stuff by just walking outside.

I don't know if I'm delusional or not, but I find the SI women far more attractive and far less Photoshopped than those in Maxim or other mags. Then again, I haven't seen a Maxim in about three years.

 

[DanOregon]

But there hasn't been a model to break out big from an SI gig since Tyra Banks. Where have you gone Kathy Ireland, Elle, Christie Brinkley etc. I guess what I'm trying to say is the models they use now look too much like models, imho.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Many of the models look the same these days.

Forever gone are the days, not so long ago, when transcendent specimens of womanhood such as Laetitia Casta, Rachel Hunter and Yamila Diaz-Rahl graced the swimsuit issue. Though her TV shows are cringe-worthy, I'd also put Tyra Banks in that category too.

I guess I'll just start giving the swimsuit issues to my (12-year-old) nephew.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Jumped the shark around the time Inside Sports started doing a swimsuit issue.

SI swimsuit was the pre-Playboy step back when Playboy still had meaning to horny young males.

Of course, the second part of the cliche is the letters to SI, which always include drooling frat boys wanting some model's number, a feminist who chastises SI for not covering Ivy League field hockey, and an outraged parent who just cancelled junior's subscription.

 

[Cadet]

I think the phrase "jumped the shark" has jumped the shark.

And Pitor, I read an article the other day that addressed the regression of the modeling world when it came to women of color. There was a great quote: "There are no blacks on the cats." Even the Brazilians like Gisele are out of style in favor of the European-heroin-chic types.

 

[Boom_70]

Its funny that of the 4 "player" wives, two of the players had definate rumors about them.

Maybe these fine ladies were enough to turn them.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Thought the Romenesko-featured bitching about this piece hilarious.

You don't like it, lady? Just look upon it as paycheck insurance. This specific issue of the book makes a mint, in ads (especially) and newsstand sales. It's infinitely more tasteful than Hustler. Get over it.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Looked at it for about three minutes, then chucked it into the recycling.

It's the magazine equivalent of our bridal or home and garden tab, a cash cow with no journalistic value. At least there wasn't a stupid RR column tagged on at the end, although Patrick's interview with Danica Patrick was pretty much drivel.

Now we get to watch the "Making of the Swimsuit Issue" video and have these Stepford models tell us how hard they worked.

 

[Lugnuts]

I'd love to take over that issue. I've got some definite ideas about how to bring back the magic.

 

[andyouare?]

I'd love to take over that issue. I've got some definite ideas about how to bring back the magic.

Does it involve your porn actress friend?

 

[The Big Ragu]

I'd love to take over that issue. I've got some definite ideas about how to bring back the magic.

Does it involve me in a speedo?