Pirelli’s calendars are known for a lot of different things. It’s known for scantily clad models while a team of makeup artists and photographers stand behind the scenes waiting for touch ups and extra beautifying.
Not that there’s anything wrong with beautifying, but “The Cal,” as it’s called in the fashion industry. Despite its attempts at artful sexiness within the fashion world, it still tends to sexualize the female body.
The 2016 calendar is changing things up, making the calendar look a lot different than it has ever before. Where there were once models, are now women like Tavi Gevinson, Serena Williams and Amy Schumer. Pirelli even hired famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz chose the thirteen actresses, filmmakers, artists, finance executives, and—yes, models to be on the famed calendar.
Annie wanted to changed things up this year, saying:
“I started to think about the roles that women play, women who have achieved something. I wanted to make a classic set of portraits. I thought that the women should look strong but natural and I decided to keep it a very simple exercise of shooting in the studio. This calendar is so completely different. It is a departure. The idea was not to have any pretense in these pictures and be very straightforward.”
It’s a far cry from the usual calendar, and I’m definitely excited to check it out.
