1) staring at chromes on a light table captures a lot more of the "feeling" of the lighting at the time the shot was taken than looking at some cheese Type-R print.
2) I feel often that the small exposure latitude of slide film makes the pictures stand out more - when I want shadows, they are black, when I want highlights they are white - when I want skin it is the right brightness and if I do everything right, it stays even.
Second: Copying "Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue" photography is difficult if not impossible. Why? Because there are so many different styles of photography in play. Look at these images and you'll see what I mean:
None of these are even remotely the same in terms of the lighting conditions and techniques. Each shot is different. So what effect do you want, exactly? Do you have a sample that you can put up that you're trying to copy? From one amateur to another I must urge you: choose ONE example to copy and not a whole host of examples. Otherwise you will fail.