Fashion

Tyra Banks is ‘fiercer than fierce’ in ‘hot ice cream’ bustier on King Kong cover

Tyra Banks wears a custom digital soft-serve bustier by Tribute Brand and pink sunglasses for King Kong magazine’s new cover. King Kong

She’s serving up a double scoop.

Tyra Banks is embracing her love of ice cream — and her age — in a deliciously playful new photo shoot for King Kong magazine’s Issue 20.

The supermodel and entrepreneur, 51, appears on the cover wearing pink sunglasses and a soft-serve-inspired bustier.

The supermodel, 51, pays homage to her Smize & Dream Ice Cream brand in a surreal photo shoot featuring dessert-inspired fashion. King Kong
Banks was interviewed by Lepore, who is a model, singer and performance artist. King Kong
The entrepreneur rides a toy car with the license plate “SMIZE” — her signature portmanteau meaning to “smile with the eyes” — in one photo from the shoot. King Kong

The surreal ice cream top is a “custom digital look” by Tribute Brand, which describes itself as “a fashion brand creating physical clothing and digital skins under the belief that the future of fashion will span multiple realities.”

Inside the magazine, Banks continues her homage to all things dessert, posing in an ice cream waffle cone dress and towering pink platform sandals with a voluminous blonde wig and turquoise eyeshadow.

She also appears riding a toy car with the license plate “SMIZE,” a tribute to the former “America’s Next Top Model” host’s go-to portmanteau, which means to “smile with the eyes.”

Banks told the magazine she feels “fiercer than fierce” in her 50s, crediting years of modeling experience for making her “a master” of her craft. King Kong
The model questioned why her own Smize & Dream flavor doesn’t better represent her image, joking that with her bustline, it should include “double-scoop marshmallows.” King Kong
Banks designed a custom ice cream flavor for interviewer Amanda Lepore called “Almonda Amanda Swirl,” with blonde butterscotch cream and chocolate-covered cherry candies. @NIKOTYLER / BACKGRID

In a conversation with veteran nightlife fixture Amanda Lepore, Banks opened up about feeling more confident than ever in her modeling career.

“Fierce is me, in my 50s, posing better than I ever have in my life,” she told Lepore. “The years of modeling, teaching, knowing my body and my angles — they’ve made me a master. And that, right there, looks and feels fiercer than fierce could ever be.”

The shoot comes as Banks continues to expand her Smize & Dream Ice Cream empire, which she opened in Australia earlier this year. The ice cream-obsessed supermodel recently launched a limited-time “hot ice cream” product that had fans scratching their heads.

Banks recently launched “hot ice cream” at her Australia-based Smize & Dream shop, confusing fans with the “sippably warm” dessert drink. smizeanddream/Instagram
The limited-edition product is called Fairy Dough Diva Hot Mama, a “buttery vanilla biscuit-infused hot cream” that’s “not melted ice cream.” smizeanddream/Instagram

Banks posted about the unusual menu item on Instagram, explaining that she took the company’s “super popular Fairy Dough Diva ice cream” flavor and gave it “a hot makeover.” The result? Fairy Dough Diva Hot Mama, which she describes as “silky, smooth and sippably warm” — but “not melted ice cream.”

During her chat with Lepore, Banks spiraled about ice cream flavors, even designing a custom flavor for the New York City icon: “Almonda Amanda Swirl — a smoked almond ice cream because you are smoking hot, with a blonde butterscotch cream swirl running through it to celebrate your golden locks.”

She also reflected on her own Smize & Dream flavor, Tyra’s Favorite, questioning why it doesn’t better represent her image.

“I’m kinda known for the bustline — and what even is that in ice cream? Chestnut? Double-scoop marshmallows?” she mused. “I’ve got serious work to do on my own flavor and need to stop this interview right now and get back into my Flavor Studio.”

Banks teased that an Eve doll from her 2000 film “Life-Size” might finally become reality, telling Lepore that “dreams have a funny way of sneaking into reality.” ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
“Never say never. You might just wake up one day, turn on your phone, and boom… Eve’s in your virtual shopping cart,” she said. ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection

The King Kong shoot also saw Banks teasing a project fans have been requesting for decades: an Eve doll from her 2000 film “Life-Size.”

“Baby, if I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me about that doll… I could probably fund an entire factory of Eves,” she told Lepore.

“Never say never. You might just wake up one day, turn on your phone, and boom… Eve’s in your virtual shopping cart. Dreams have a funny way of sneaking into reality.”

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