After achieving over 150 careers, Barbie (born Barbara Millicent Roberts in a tiny town in Wisconsin) is making her historical debut on the special edition wrap-cover of Sports Illustrated‘s 50th Anniversary Swimsuit issue.
Barbie, the doll that started it all, now joins the league of famous Sports Illustrated cover girls such as Brooklyn Decker, Tyra Banks, Veronica Varekova, Elle MacPherson, Rebecca Romijn, Rachel Hunter, Daniela Pestova, Elsa Benitez, Carolyn Murphy, Yamila Diaz, Heidi Klum, Beyonce (the only non-model to ever grace the magazine), Kate Upton. The original cover girls for this issue are Nina Agdal, Lily Aldridge and Chrissy Teigen.
According to Sports Illustrated, they reached out to the legend and ask her to help them celebrate their landmark issue by shimmying back into that iconic chevron swimsuit to star in her own Swimsuit 2014 photo shoot with legend-in-his-own-right Walter Iooss.
“A legend herself, and under constant criticism about her body and how she looks, posing in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit gives Barbie and her fellow legends an opportunity to own who they are, celebrate what they have done and be #unapologetic,” the company said in a statement. The updated swimsuit Barbie wore when she was introduced in 1959 will go on sale at Target this week, too.
Check out the exclusive behind the scenes footage from this first-of-its-kind shoot:
