Sports Illustrated’s ‘unrealistic’ tiny bikini baffles TikTok

Sports Illustrated is known for its love of tiny bikinis, but a daring new cossie style in its new edition has left some women seriously confused.

Just when it seemed we’d seen the most extreme examples of the tiny bikini trend, one magazine photo shoot decided to take the look to new (thigh) heights.

In a video posted to TikTok that’s since been viewed more than 900,000 times, user @nataliaaa1717 flicked through the 2020 swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, asking the magazine to “please explain”.
The magazine features models Kate Bock, Jasmine Sanders and Olivia Culpo on the cover in seriously skimpy black swimwear.

But it’s the “dental floss” crotch area on two of the model’s swimmers that has Natalia – and the rest of TikTok – confused.

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“So y’all trying to tell me that my coochie can fit in that?” she says, hovering her phone over Olivia Culpo’s daring black swimsuits.

Culpo’s black one-piece not only had an extremely thin patch of material over her crotch – but it also featured a racy flash of side-boob and an extremely high cut.

Natalia pointed out several high-cut swimmers inside the magazine too – both with questionable crotch areas.

In one shot, Culpo was once again wearing a logic-defying one-piece, this time it was a bandeau-style swimsuit with modest sleeves.

Another model, Brooks Nader, also caught Natalia’s attention, for having a high-cut, teeny tiny crotch and half the bra area missing, instead held together with a metal clasp.

The video attracted hundreds of comments slamming the swimsuits as “unrealistic” as well as accusing the publication of altering the images.

“Oh my god that’s hilarious – I wanna see that on a real person (not photoshopped),” one person wrote.

“Impossible, mine can’t fit in there,” one comment read, while another person added: “They probably had to glue it in place.”

“I need to know who’s their wax lady,” one commenter quipped.

Olivia Culpo donned several skimpy swimmers for the Sports Illustrated shoot in Bali and regularly posts snaps on social media in bikinis. Picture: Instagram/Olivia Culpo

Sports Illustrated is famed for its revealing swimsuit designs, with model Haley Kalil recently revealing her “one-piece” for her shoot this year basically had no back.

From the front, her white cossie looked like a normal swimsuit, but a behind-the-scenes video she shared on her Instagram account showed the back was nothing more than a piece of string that crisscrosses across her shoulders and joins together to create a string bottom that is so tiny, you could barely call it a G-string.

Sports Illustrated model’s cheeky X-rated ‘one-piece’ swimsuit. Picture: Instagram/Haley Khalil

Which from the back was actually nothing but a piece of string. Picture: Instagram/Haley Khalil

The tiny swimwear trend was kicked off by model and actress Emily Ratajkowski a few years ago, thanks to her fashion line Inamorata which is famous for its skimpy swimwear designers.

Last year a V-string bikini bottom from Australian brand Beginning Boutique went viral for all the wrong reasons when it was mocked for not having nearly enough fabric to provide adequate coverage.

A Facebook post advertising the bikini bottoms, which cost $39.95, racked up more than 150,000 comments.

These Beginning Boutique bikini bottoms went viral last year. Picture: Beginning Boutique

In Australia, Tammy Hembrow has led the tiny bikini trend.

In Australia the tiny bikini trend has been led by Tammy Hembrow, with the Instagram star flaunting her famous figure in a parade of different tiny swimsuits.

But wearing the revealing styles hasn’t been without its critics, with Tammy revealing she often cops hate for her skimpy looks.

“Definitely, I think there will always be people that will make comments and say you’re a mum, you shouldn’t be wearing something like that,” she previously told news.com.au.

“But everybody is entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to stop being me or catering to my audience of girls because of that divisive opinion.”