Sailor Brinkley Cook channels mom Christie Brinkley’s iconic Cosmopolitan bikini cover — nearly 50 years later

Sailor Brinkley Cook posed in a strappy string bikini on a tropical beach, channeling her mom Christie Brinkley’s iconic 1977 Cosmopolitan cover.Instagram/@sailorbrinkleycook
The Brinkley bikini legacy lives on.

Sailor Brinkley Cook channeled her supermodel mom Christie Brinkley’s legendary June 1977 Cosmopolitan cover this week when she shared a series of sun-soaked photos from her Turks and Caicos vacation on Instagram.

In the shots, Brinkley Cook posed in a cobalt blue string bikini with a triangle top and skimpy bottoms featuring straps that wrapped around her hips.

A woman in a blue string bikini poses by the ocean among tropical foliage.

Christie Brinkley 1977 Cosmopolitan cover
The supermodel caused a sensation when she posed in the high-cut Norma Kamali bikini nearly 50 years ago; she’s since called the suit “groundbreaking, racy, sexy, scandalous, and I LOVED IT!”Cosmopolitan

A woman in a blue bikini leaning against a palm tree.
Brinkley’s suit was held together with a single string, while her daughter’s strappy style encircled her hips.Instagram/@sailorbrinkleycook

om the same Turks and Caicos holiday, prompting Sailor to comment “Hot bod alert” on the age-defying photos.Instagram/@christiebrinkley

A woman in a blue bikini lying on the edge of a swimming pool.
The 27-year-old model captioned a second set of photos, “Mentally still here 🌺💭.”Instagram/@sailorbrinkleycook

A woman in a blue bikini stands next to a bicycle on a sandy beach, looking back at the viewer with a blue sky and ocean in the background.
She struck a pose mid-bike ride in another shot, her bright blue cruiser matching the crystal-clear water behind her.Instagram/@sailorbrinkleycook
“In 1977, this bathing suit caused a stir!” Christie wrote in a 2020 Instagram post. “At the time, all the bikinis were low-slung on the hip. This high leg cut made the hip a new erogenous zone.”

She admitted the shoot wasn’t all confidence, however.

Without modern photo technology, the team had to nail every detail before they got the shot. “They did not have retouching back then, so they really perfected the makeup and every strand of hair,” she recalled. “I remember I was worried that I looked fat.”

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A woman in a straw hat and red bikini top smiles on a sandy beach.
The supermodel recalled laughing when the Cosmo stylist handed her “a little pile of string” on set and struggling to figure out how to put the bikini on.Instagram/Christie Brinkley

A woman in a blue bikini lying poolside next to pink and purple flowers.
The mother-daughter pair posed together for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in 2017 alongside Sailor’s half-sister Alexa Ray Joel, 40.Instagram/@sailorbrinkleycook

Woman in a straw hat and wetsuit smiling on a sandy beach.
Brinkley, now 71, was just 23 when the Cosmopolitan cover came out.christiebrinkley/Instagram

What do you think? Post a comment.

Today, however, she has a personal hype squad right at home. Earlier this month, she posted a series of bikini selfies from the same family beach getaway.

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Sailor was among the first to comment on her mom’s post. “Hot bod alert,” she gushed.

On Wednesday, Brinkley Cook shared a second series of vacation photos with the caption “Mentally still here 🌺💭.” In those shots, she lounged poolside in a bright turquoise bikini against a lush backdrop of pink and red tropical flowers.

Christie welcomed Sailor in 1998 with ex-husband Peter Cook. She’s also mom to daughter Alexa Ray Joel, 40, with ex Billy Joel, and son Jack Brinkley-Cook, 30, with ex Richard Taubman.