Thursday, February 17, 2011

...the beach and the covergirl

Sports Illustrated's bikini models grace Boracay beaches

One of the world's leading sports magazines asked some of the planet's sexiest models to lie around on the Philippines' most acclaimed beach.

Russian model Irina Shayk on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 2011 Swimsuit Edition. Some of the photos were taken on Boracay Island. (Bjorn Iooss/Sports Illustrated)

Boracay is among the exotic locations featured in Sports Illustrated's 2011 Swimsuit Edition.

The highly-awaited Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition, which brought fame to several generations of super models from Christie Brinkley to Brooklyn Decker, hit newsstands Tuesday.

The cover features Russian model Irina Shayk on location in Hawaii, but the annual swimsuit issue also shows her and other bikini-clad single ladies in sultry poses on Bora's white-sand playground.

Boracay has long been a favorite frolicking ground for the glamorous. Over the Christmas holidays, actor Mark Salling, who plays "Puck" in the hit TV series Glee, partied in Boracay with Kapuso stars Richard Gutierrez and Solenn Heusaff.

This time, Boracay's beaches hosted models Shayk, Esti Ginzburg, Chrissy Teigen, Kate Upton, and Jessica White.

One photo of Esti Ginzburg also shows a local man wearing a colorful Ati-Atihan costume in the background.

The magazine's website also showed videos of the women. Ginzburg was photographed on one of the island's iconic paraws while Jessica White's shots were taken at the poolside of Shangri-La's Boracay Resort and Spa.

Thai-Norwegian Christine Teigen, who described Filipinos as "ridiculously sweet," was covered only by powdery white sand and shells of the island in some of her photos.

Some of Kate Upton's photos were taken with a bahay kubo backdrop, while others were taken of her on a local fishing boat. In the video, Upton said of Boracay: "It's beautiful! I grew up in Florida so I know what beaches are like but this beach is not like anything I've ever seen."

The women were not aware which of them would grace the cover of the magazine, as it is part of Sports Illustrated's tradition to keep this information under wraps until it is on sale. Shayk only learned about her selection as the cover girl at the taping of Late Night with David Letterman.

It is Shayk's fifth appearance in the magazine, but this is her first time to be on the cover. The 24-year-old model, who was discovered while riding a train to Moscow in 2004, is no stranger to the limelight, being the current girlfriend of football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to Reuters, Shayk is the first Russian model to grace the cover of the swimsuit issue. For the first time, the issue will also be available not just in print but on iPads, mobile phones and even television with new apps for the digital reader.

This year, Sports Illustrated took Shayk and numerous other swimsuit models including Brooklyn Decker, Cintia Dicker, Julie Henderson, Genevieve Morton and Jessica White to famous beaches around the world for their photo shoots. Shayk is seen sitting on the sandy beaches of Maui in Hawaii for her cover picture.

The edition hits newsstands annually in the dead of North America's winter, offering the tantalizing hope to readers that warmer weather -- and the sunny days at the beach that go with it -- is only weeks away. It is one of the most widely-read magazine editions of the year. - OMG/RAF/KY/JVP/HS, GMA News with a report from Reuters

No comments:

Post a Comment