There was a time, not long ago, when the surest path to modeling stardom was down the runway of a top designer’s show, when it would have been unthinkable to find among the industry’s top ranks a swimsuit girl whose main claims to fame were ad campaigns for Guess jeans and Beach Bunny Swimwear. 
 
 But that was before social media altered the paths to fame. 
 
 Unlike the many little-known beauties now on view at New York Fashion Week — women seldom identified by more than one name (Agata, Hanaa, Frida, Joan) — Kate Upton, just 19 and resembling a 1950s pinup, but with the legs of a W.N.B.A. point guard, has arrived on the scene as a largely self-created Internet phenomenon. 
 
 It is not just that she has a respectable Twitter following (170,000 people at last count), or a YouTube video with over 3 million viewers, or marketing potential perhaps best measured by her rocketing from obscurity to No. 2 on a list of the world’s 99 “top” women compiled by AskMen.com, an online magazine with 15 million readers. (Sofia Vergara, of the ABC sitcom “Modern Family,” is No. 1.) 
 
 Less than a year after Ms. Upton, curvaceous and rambunctious, posted a video of herself at a Los Angeles Clippers game doing the Dougie, a dance popularized in a hip-hop tune by Cali Swag District, she finds herself in one of the most coveted positions in the modeling business. 
 
 Joining an elite club of modeling powerhouses — brand names like Cheryl Tiegs, Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum — Ms. Upton was announced Monday night on David Letterman’s show as the latest cover girl for Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue, the circulation and advertising behemoth that has long been equally the dream book of adolescent males and the bane of feminists. 
 
 In modeling, as in movies (see: “Chronicle,” the film that hit No. 1 at the box office this month after relying on social media outlets like Twitter and YouTube for its marketing), music (the band Fun. and its inescapable viral hit “We Are Young”) and most other cultural endeavors, it is increasingly clear that there is no longer a single path to success. 
 
 “We all know that social media now creates its own reality,” said Wayne Sterling, the publisher of Models.com, an industry Web site. “If you become a YouTube star among teenagers, you have even more recognizability than a TV star,” he said. “Kate Upton is the perfect example of that.” 
 
 It was soon after the Dougie video went viral that a seasoned scout, David Cunningham, brought Ms. Upton to the attention of Ivan Bart of IMG Models, the company behind the multimillion-dollar careers of women like Gisele Bündchen, Ms. Klum and Kate Moss. 
 
 “When Kate first came in, everyone at the agency thought I was crazy,” Mr. Bart, the “superagent” who heads IMG Models, said of Ms. Upton. “She wasn’t ‘fashion’ enough.” 
 
 Mr. Bart signed her anyway. And soon, to the surprise of some in the industry, Ms. Upton was being sought out for editorial sittings with people like Carine Roitfeld, the French fashion eminence known for her prophetic eye, and by Katie Grand, the influential stylist and editor of the fashion-forward British magazine Love. 
 
 Wholesomely proportioned at 5 feet 11 inches with a 36-25-34 figure, Ms. Upton was a long way from the coolly robotic Eastern European beauty ideal that has dominated the catwalks for many seasons. “Kate is bigger than fashion,” Mr. Bart said. “She’s the Jayne Mansfield of the Internet.” 
 
 Though the catwalks of New York, Paris and Milan, traditionally a pathway to magazine covers and the lavish cosmetic and fragrance advertising campaigns that are the grail of every modeling hopeful, will continue to exert influence, it is increasingly difficult for the industry to ignore the world outside the Fashion Week tents, particularly the one that is virtual. 
 
 “It’s not just enough to cast such-and-such a girl that opened Prada or Vuitton or whatever,” said Trey Laird, the creative director of Laird & Partners, the advertising agency behind brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Juicy Couture and the Gap. “It’s a huge help if a girl already has a platform and followers, and Kate Upton is a great example of that.” 
 
 Those dubious about Ms. Upton’s crossover potential, or of any career driven toward the stony heart of fashion from the do-it-yourself fringes of the blogosphere, include Sophia Neophitou, editor of the English style bible 10 and a creative force behind the casting of the Victoria’s Secret shows. 
 
 “We would never use” Ms. Upton for a Victoria’s Secret show, Ms. Neophitou said by telephone last week from London. And, while Ms. Upton has, in fact, modeled on occasion for the company’s catalog, her look, said Ms. Neophitou, is “too obvious” to be featured in what has become the most widely viewed runway show in the world. ||||| Kate Upton sizzles in her second straight year as Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue cover model Upton graces the cover for the magazine's hotly anticipated 50th Anniversary edition. With the headline 'Polar Bare,' Upton is shown in Antarctica sporting an unzipped jacket and wearing a bikini bottom. 
 
 Shown is the February 2013 Sports Ilustrated Swimsuit cover featuring model Kate Upton, as found on the SI Swimsuit Twitter feed 
 
 The secret is blown. 
 
 Sports Illustrated had planned to reveal its eagerly anticipated 2013 Swimsuit Issue on Monday - but an image of the supposedly top secret cover was leaked onto the Internet three days earlier. The magazine took to twitter to confirm the front page 
 
 PHOTOS: KATE UPTON: CURVES AHEAD 
 
 WALTER IOOSS JR/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED via AP 
 
 The photo, which first surfaced on Fashioncopious.com, revealed that 2012 cover girl Kate Upton graces the Swimsuit issue for a second year in a row. 
 
 This year’s cover - the 50th anniversary issue - looks to be one for the ages. With the coverline, “Polar bare,” it features Upton clad in white bikini bottoms and an matching parka that’s opened up to expose most of her curvacious body to the Artic chill. 
 
 The 20-year-old model endured frigid temperatures of 35 below zero for the Antartica shoot , TMZ reported when the gossip site posted photos in December . 
 
 It ended up being quite an expedition: Upton and a camera crew sailed on a ten day cruise that disembarked from Argentina to find the picture perfect background for the milestone issue. ||||| A disproportionate Barbie doll attends the Barbie and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 50th anniversary celebration of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit legends last year in New York. (Diane Bondareff/Invision for Barbie/AP) 
 
 This year’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue will look slightly different from the rest — at least on one page. Instead of a beautiful model in an exotic location showing off her assets in a skimpy bikini, this page will feature a beautiful plus-sized model in an exotic location showing off her assets in a skimpy bikini. 
 
 Okay, so the publication, which comes out Monday, won’t be that much different, especially considering the plus-sized inclusion is a paid advertisement opposed to an editorial decision, but 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,” 27-year-old model Ashley Graham said in a statement (via US Weekly) about her campaign for swimwear seller SwimsuitsForAll.com. “There is no reason to hide and every reason to flaunt.” 
 
 The ad is part of SwimsuitsForAll.com’s larger #CurvesinBikinis campaign, which is meant to give young women a healthier view of their bodies. 
 
 “Tastes and body types change over time and curves have never been more ‘in.’ There is no better way to celebrate and show off than by donning a bikini,” said the company’s CEO and President Moshe Laniado (via US Weekly). 
 
 Laniado is right. The famously curvy Kate Upton snagged the past two issues’ covers, which may pave the way for more variation in body types featured in the editorial portions of the magazine in years to come. Upton, of course, is not “plus-sized,” but her size 8 dress size is larger than, say, that of model Carolyn Murphy, who showed off her size 4 frame on the issue’s cover 10 years ago. It was in 2005, as well, when the true money-making potential of the Swimsuit Issue reached new heights. Murphy’s issue generated upwards of $35 million in ad sales, according to Forbes, cementing the perennial publication as one of Time Inc.’s biggest revenue drivers going forward. Today, Forbes says the issue drive $1 billion in revenue.
– Victoria's Secret model and YouTube starlet Kate Upton flashes a wild bikini on this week's cover as Sports Illustrated's much-awaited annual swimsuit babe. Upton, a 19-year-old Floridian, was named the top "rookie" model in last year's Swimsuit Issue by the mag. This time she poses on an Aussie beach in a red-and-brown teeny bikini that makes her feel "sexy but confident," she tells the AP. "In Florida, people walk around in their flip-flops, bikinis, and jean shorts, so I'm very comfortable in a bathing suit," says the 5-foot-11 model. She's a modern girl, who shot to fame thanks in large part to a YouTube video in which she struts her stuff, notes the New York Times. She racked up 3 millions views on a YouTube video of her doing the "Dougie," a dance popularized by Cali Swag District, and has a 170,000-person Twitter following. The video caught the attention of a model scout, and the rest is bikini history. "Social media now creates its own reality,” says Wayne Sterling, publisher of industry site Models.com. “If you become a YouTube star among teenagers, you have even more recognizability than a TV star. Kate Upton is the perfect example of that." Click to read 10 things you probably didn't know about Kate Upton.