Actress Valerie Bertinelli, 65, seems to be aging in reverse, something that's been happening for more than a decade now!

The 71-year-old model channeled her inner Sports Illustrated Swim energy as she modeled a red bikini during a boat ... and landed three consecutive cover shoots in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

“It was fun, innocent and yes, sexy as hell,” the designer tells PEOPLE of working with this week's cover star Brooke Shields ... his iconic ads featuring '80s "It Girl" Brooke Shields.

Who cares if the 1990s are the new hip decade everyone's mining for nostalgia's sake? Not That '80s Band, that's for sure; their high-energy live concerts/dance parties feel like the Aqua Net era ...