Pirelli announced today that their 2019 calendar was shot by Scottish photographer Albert Watson. The 76-year-old reportedly took the pics in April, shooting in both Miami and New York.
The selection of Watson is inline with Pirelli’s brand-image repositioning — in the past few years Pirelli has moved away from the soft-core calendar girl look it has had since its 1964 inception. In 2016 the calendar was shot by Annie Leibovitz, who photographed a series fo women celebrated for their accomplishments, as opposed to their looks. In 2017, Peter Lindbergh’s version made waves for its non-airburshed, make-up free portraits of actresses.
“For the calendar I shot in 2002, I photographed naked models and I thought it was really boring,” Lindbergh said at the time. “Talent is more important than nice body parts. The idea of beauty today is a bloody mess. It’s really awful. You look in the fashion magazines and see all of these retouched people. Some guys, called retouchers, go on the computer and take away everything that you are and then call it photography. I think it’s such an insult.”
One can only imagine the limited-edition calendar, which is released annually by the Italian tire company, will only veer further away from its pinup look in the wake of #MeToo.
Last year, Tim Walker’s calendar was Alice in Wonderland themed and featured an all-black cast, including RuPaul, Whoopi Goldberg, Naomi Campbell, and Diddy.
Watson is known for his high-contrast portraiture work, having shot everyone from Prince to Steve Jobs. His entrée into the fashion world was with a shoot with Kate Moss, which resulted in one of the most famous images of the supermodel ever taken.
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