In Sports Illustrated: Plus-Size Model in Tiny Bikini

Sports Illustrated's vaunted "Swimsuit Issue" hits newsstands Monday, and there's a whole lot of buzz being generated about one of the bikini-clad models who appears in it: Ashley Graham, who happens to be a size 16. She marks the first inclusion of a plus-size model in the edition, though it's important to note that Graham isn't part of the editorial but stars in an ad for swimwear brand swimsuitsforall (whose website features plenty more shots). As Marissa Payne puts it at the Washington Post, "Hey, small steps lead to big steps sometimes."

"I know my curves are sexy and I want everyone else to know that theirs are, too," the 27-year-old tells Us Weekly, which reports Graham is no stranger to big-name magazines: She's appeared in Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Latina. A 2013 Forbes article sheds some light on what a moneymaker the issue has become. Launched in 1964, it brings in $1 billion (yes, billion) in revenue generated by everything from ad sales to sales of a namesake calendar. In other curvy model news, Sports Illustrated named this size-10 beauty one of its 2015 rookies. (More Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue stories.)