WHAT STAYED WITH ME: SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIM SHOW

I've been home from Miami for a few days now, and there's one thing I can't stop thinking about.

Before the trip, I assumed the highlight would be seeing Sienna Swim on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit runway for Miami Swim Week. And honestly, it was pretty incredible. This year, our suits appeared throughout the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit world—from the print issue to a digital editorial to the runway itself—and watching three women walk in Sienna Swim was one of those moments that felt impossible when I first started this brand.

Seeing Ilona Maher, Penny Lane, and Ellie Thumann wearing Sienna Swim on the runway was surreal. Knowing that our suits were also featured this year on women like Erin Marley Klay, Jasmine Sanders, and Christen Goff made it even more meaningful.

But the older I get, the more I notice that the moments I remember most are usually not the ones I expect. What stayed with me from Miami wasn't a particular look or a particular person. It was the feeling of watching a group of women who were all completely different from one another and somehow fit together perfectly.

There were women in their 20s and women in their 50s. Athletes. Models. Creators. Entrepreneurs. Mothers. A pregnant woman walking the runway with the same confidence as anyone else. Women whose bodies looked different from one another and women whose lives looked different. And none of it felt unusual.

Nobody felt like they were there to represent a category. Nobody felt like the exception. They just belonged.

I think that's what people connected with afterward, too.

When I read through comments on a TikTok video I posted showing some of the runway show (which airs on Hulu and Disney+ starting June 9), the ones that stood out to me weren't about who looked best or who had the "perfect" body. They were from women saying how good it felt to see themselves reflected somewhere.

And honestly, I understood exactly what they meant.

When I was 16, people started attaching all kinds of labels to me online. Body positive. Curvy. Plus-size. Confident. Brave. I never felt like I was trying to be any of those things. I was just existing.

I was posting videos, hanging out with my friends, figuring out who I was, and somehow I became part of a much bigger conversation about beauty, confidence, and body image. 

Which also had me thinking about my own relationship with confidence and showing up as myself.

A few hours before the show, I made a decision to go without makeup.

I was sitting in front of a mirror with all of my makeup laid out in front of me when I thought, "Why?" Not in a dramatic way. I genuinely couldn't come up with a reason.

Most days you'll find me with no makeup on. That's how I go to the beach. That's how I work. That's how I spend time with the people I love. That's the version of me that feels the most familiar.

So I left it in the bag (and made a TikTok).

And somewhere between leaving my hotel room and walking into the event, I realized how freeing it felt to stop asking myself whether I looked ready and just enjoy where I was.

Maybe that's also why I've fallen so deeply in love with swimwear. A swimsuit is one of the most vulnerable things you can wear. There's nowhere to hide. It doesn't matter how old you are, what size you wear, what your job is, or how confident you seem on the outside. Putting on a swimsuit has a way of making almost every woman feel exposed at some point.

I've seen it firsthand while building Sienna Swim.

Some of the most beautiful women I've ever met will put on a swimsuit and immediately start picking themselves apart. They'll focus on the thing they wish were different instead of the vacation they're packing for, the memories they're about to make, or the life they're actually living.

And every once in a while, someone puts on the swimsuit and forgets to think about herself altogether. She starts talking about the trip. The beach. The people she's excited to see. The memories she's about to make.

That's always my favorite moment. Because the swimsuit stops being the story. She becomes the story.

When I think about Miami now, I don't think about the runway first. I think about how comfortable everyone seemed being themselves. For one night, nobody seemed to be asking whether they belonged. They just did.

After spending so many years hearing conversations about what women should look like, there was something really beautiful about being reminded that the most interesting thing about a woman has never been her body.

It’s who she is. That’s what stayed with me.

Love,
Sienna xx