Asian and Middle Eastern plus-sized model Lauren Chan has made history as the first out lesbian model ever to grace the cover of the annual Sports Illustrated (SI) swimsuit issue, the sports magazine’s most popular and iconic issue. The honor brought her to tears, she said, and has helped continue her quest of “dismantling the beauty ideal,” she recently told People magazine.
The issue came out on May 13. Chan had no idea that the photos she took for it (back in March) would end up as one of the edition’s four different cover shots, each featuring a different model.
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“My autonomy and my anatomy are beautiful. I want people to see that, and to see that you can be respected, appreciated and loved regardless of your body shape, sexuality, and the color of your skin.”
“My whole career has been based on representation and inclusion,” she told the aforementioned publication. “Although my career has taken different forms, the same North Star has been followed, and that is to represent people like me who have felt marginalized and left out to have them feel not just included but celebrated.”
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Though the Canadian-born model first appeared in SI in 2023, she is also the founder of the plus-size clothing brand Henning, worked as an associate fashion editor at Glamour magazine, has received numerous awards for her editorial work, and appeared on the second season of the reality TV game show The Traitors Canada.
“It’s not just being included, it’s that extra step of celebration,” Chan said of her cover model appearance in SI‘s swimsuit edition . “It’s that extra platform to represent people like me who haven’t been here before and now they can see themselves somewhere like this platform and imagine that they can be there too.”
SI’s Editor-in-Chief MJ Day said of Chan’s cover appearance, “[Chan] is rewriting fashion’s narrative. As a model, activist, and entrepreneur, her ‘why’ is about making people think of beauty in a way that’s inclusive, genuine, and empowering. As a writer, she challenges the industry’s narrow standards, offering a new vision where all bodies and stories are celebrated.”
First published in 1964, SI‘s swimsuit issue remains the magazine’s most popular annual installment, but it has received criticism in the past.
In a 1997 book, sports sociologist Laurel R. Davis analyzed every SI swimsuit issue since its first one, and found that the issues reinforced traditional gender roles, marginalized people of color and non-heterosexuals, and also depicted women as dependent, emotionally vulnerable, and disconnected from the sporting context.
While the magazine has certainly diversified its swimsuit offerings since then, Chan’s inclusion represents another step forward for Asian, plus-size, and queer representation on a major nationwide sports platform.
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