“We just honestly have to keep moving,” she said. But these strides for representation, she stressed, are just the start. In 2020, Valentina Sampaio was the first trans woman to appear in the issue, and this year’s issue features SI Swim’s first Asian curve model, Yumi Nu.īloom, meanwhile, is also the glossy’s first trans model of color. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has committed to casting a more diverse range of models in recent years. “I felt so confident every step of the way, and I don’t feel like that a lot of times when I’m on set shooting half naked or in lingerie or even swimwear.” “Growing up I always wanted to just be comfortable on the beach, and I feel so beautiful in a one-piece,” said Bloom. “Trans women feel so comfortable in these one-pieces, so I want to represent them,” she explained, adding that the iconic suits from “Baywatch” also served as inspiration. I just wanted to be seen in the world and let people know that people like me do exist and we are beautiful.”ĭuring her SI Swim shoot, Bloom had her pick of hundreds of bathing suits, opting for leotard-like one-pieces - like the high-cut white Gil Rodriguez maillot ($260) she models on her cover - over the skimpier string bikinis on offer. “I think it just putting myself out there, knowing that I was born in a world I didn’t fit in, so I have to create one that I do. “Being a person of trans experience growing up in the world, there was no representation of that, so I felt like I could never do this,” she said. Leyna Bloom walks the runway for Chromat during New York Fashion Week in 2019. That chance encounter jump-started her career, which so far has included an appearance in Vogue India, campaigns for H&M and Levi’s and a runway gig alongside Zendaya for Tommy Hilfiger. “This is my bloodline, this is my ancestry, this is where I come from,” she recalled thinking of her family matriarch’s work.īloom followed her dreams to New York City at the age of 17, hearing a lot of “no” before being discovered in a store in Soho. Mike Marsland/WireImageīloom’s interest in modeling and movement grew from family roots she first envisioned a future in fashion while growing up on the South Side of Chicago, where her grandmother taught ballroom and runway classes.
In 2019, Leyna Bloom became the first trans woman of cover to lead a movie at the Cannes Film Festival (for “Port Authority”). “This cover and this moment represent what it looks like in the future,” said Bloom, who has been texting back and forth with the “America’s Next Top Model” host ever since the big reveal. Meet the women of the Sports Illustrated 2021 Swimsuit Issueįittingly, Banks - the magazine’s first solo black cover star - was there to celebrate when SI Swim’s editor-in-chief, MJ Day, told Bloom she’d appear on one of the famed glossy’s three 2021 covers, making for a “surreal” full-circle moment that left her feeling “shook” in the best way.
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