brinkley appeared on three consecutive "sports illustrated swimsuit issue" covers (1979, 1980 and 1981) – the first time that had happened – and appeared in the publication's annual swimsuit issues and television specials for years to follow. brinkley was featured exclusively in the first "sports illustrated calendar" and also released two of her own calendars. in 2005, brinkley was featured in the special "sports illustrated 40th anniversary issue's hall of fame", celebrating the most revered figures in the magazine's history and again in 2014, in the "50th anniversary the legends". as an editorial model, brinkley has appeared on over 500 magazine covers, including "us", "vogue", "newsweek", "rolling stone", "esquire", "harper's bazaar", "cosmopolitan", "glamour" and the best-selling issue of "life". she has held major contracts with "chanel no. 19", "prell", "mastercard", "breck", "diet coke", "anheuser-busch", "got milk?", "healthy choice", "max factor", "nissan", "noxema", "revlon", "clairol", "borghese cosmetics", "danskin", "nu skin", "yardley of london", "halston", "vogue patterns", "gottex" and "black velvet", among others. brinkley has been photographed in six continents in more than 30 countries.