Several WNBA stars had to strip down in black for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit and the pictures are beautiful and wild at the same time. Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike, Te’a Cooper, and DiDi Richards broke the internet by posing in black swimsuits for the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue via TPS;
“The women of @wnba traded in their uniforms for swimsuits and made all our swishes come true. Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Nneka Ogwumike, Te’a Cooper, and DiDi Richards will be featured in our 2022 issue-hitting newsstands on May 19th,” the magazine shared on Instagram Monday. “These players not only dominate on the court but are tirelessly leading the charge in speaking out on social justice issues- fighting for racial justice and equality and working together to create sustainable change.”
Bird and Stewart, who play for the Seattle Storm, posed alongside Ogwumike, who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks. Richards, who plays for the New York Liberty, posed beside Cooper, who was recently released from the Los Angeles Sparks.
This is a powerful moment for SI Swim and the WNBA.
The SI swimsuit issue has been around forever.
The swimsuit issue was invented by Sports Illustrated editor Andre Laguerre 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 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. 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. The issue that got the most letters was the 1978 edition. In 1997, Tyra Banks was the first black woman on the cover. Since 1997, the swimsuit issue has been a stand-alone edition, separate from the regular weekly magazine. Its best selling issue was the 25th Anniversary Issue with Kathy Ireland on the cover in 1989.
Through the years, many models, such as Cheryl Tiegs, Christie Brinkley, Paulina Porizkova, Elle Macpherson, Rachel Hunter, Rebecca Romijn, Petra Nemcova, Valeria Mazza, Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Marisa Miller and Irina Shayk have been featured on the cover. Other models within its pages, but not on its cover, include Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Niki Taylor, Angie Everhart, and Naomi Campbell. The eight models featured on the cover of the 2006 issue were featured in a coffee-table book called Sports Illustrated: Exposure. Photographed by Raphael Mazzucco and produced by Diane Smith, the unprecedented “reunion shoot” featured 139 pages of previously-unpublished images. In 2006, the issue expanded publishing to handheld devices. In 2007, the swimsuit issue first became available in China.
The 2008–2013 covergirls were announced on Late Show with David Letterman. The 2014 and 2017 covergirls were announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The 2015 cover model was announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
The 2019 covers were exclusively announced on Good Morning America with Tyra Banks and Camille Kostek both appearing on the show on May 8, 2019.[15][16] The 2019 issue has leaned towards diversity and inclusivity with models representing different body types. It also tackled ageism, body image and the Me Too movement.
The 2020 issue was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was released on July 13, 2020. Valentina Sampaio became the swimsuit issue’s first openly transgender model in 2020.
Flip to the next page to see the beautiful photos…