photography
Pirelli calendar: “Bridgerton” star Simone Ashley lets her clothes go
For over 60 years it has stood for sex appeal, glamor and high-quality photography: the Pirelli calendar. Photographer Ethan James Greens goes bare skin again for his 2025 edition.
Simple yet ingenious is how the idea, which was born in London in 1964, can be summarized. The British subsidiary of the Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli was looking for a way to stand out from the competition and invented the Pirelli calendar. Photographer Robert Freeman photographed two models on the beach in Mallorca, one of whom was his wife Sonny.
Freeman later made a name for himself as the Beatles’ photographer and the Pirelli calendar also developed from a publicity stunt into a sought-after collector’s item. 51 issues have been published to date; in 1967 alone and between 1975 and 1983 there was no calendar. The ongoing recession in Europe took its toll on Pirelli, and the photo project was put on hold for the time being. It wasn’t reissued until 1984, when photographer Uwe Ommer photographed naked models in the Bahamas.
The 1990 Pirelli calendar caused a scandal
In 1990, a Pirelli calendar appeared in black and white for the first time. The US photographer Arthur Elgort dedicated it to the Olympic Games and Leni Riefenstahl – a scandal for many Germans.
From the mid-1990s onwards, the world’s most renowned photographers took the initiative: Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Annie Leibovitz, Karl Lagerfeld, Mario Testino and Steven Meisel. The models were also top-class: Gisele Bündchen, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford and many others dropped their clothes.
In recent years, the imagery of the calendar has changed: away from naked bikini models and towards time-critical and social issues. In 2013, photographer Steve McCurry was one of the first to photograph not only supermodels but also women who were committed to humanitarian projects in the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro. Annie Leibovitz, Peter Lindbergh and Tim Walker also pursued similar goals.
The US photographer Ethan James Green was hired for the Pirelli calendar for 2025. The 34-year-old once again refers more to the origins of the calendar and staged models, actresses and singers scantily clad. He himself is also represented with a nude photograph. “I put myself on the calendar because the only person I could tell to be completely naked was myself. It was very liberating to be naked in front of so many people,” says Green.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
