As the Pirelli Calendar turns 150 years old, Emily Dinsdale looks back at its defining moments
Shot on location in Tunisia and Big Sur, California, Peccinotti’s sun-drenched, colour-saturated photographs are less self-consciously posed than conventional glamour shoots. Apparently inspired by the poetry of Elizabeth Barret Browning, Allen Ginsberg, and Pierre de Ronsard, the Pirelli Calendar in Peccinotti’s hands became more like an erotic fashion editorial.
In 1972, Sarah Moon became the first woman to shoot for the calendar. Having begun her career as a fashion model, she came to prominence in the 1970s as a fashion photographer creating images with a distinctly haunting, elegant quality. At first glance, the photographs she took for Pirelli look like impressionist paintings. Shot in the lavish setting of Villa Les Tilleuls in Paris, her portraits are ethereal and painterly, more Renoir than soft porn.
The calendar reappeared in 1984 – an era of Reagan and Thatcher, of political conservatism, and the rise of the yuppie. Home video had made pornography ubiquitous and the re-launched Pirelli Calendar wholeheartedly embodied these cultural shifts, taking on the mantle of classy porn for execs. Its inaugural 1980s iteration replaced the suggestion of sex with more explicit and, at times, troubling depictions of sexual objectification.
Yet there were many exceptions, when contributors attempted to enlarge the narrow ideal of beauty that had been so rigidly adhered to in previous editions. In 1987, Terence Donovan shot the first Pirelli Calendar to feature a cast of entirely Black models , and in 1988, Barry Lategan included a male model for the first time.As the 1990s dawned, the sun rose on the golden age of supermodels.
Alongside the most sought after fashion models, the calendar also continued to attract the most vaunted photographers. Herb Ritts,
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
A Place in the Sun's Laura Hamilton left 'overwhelmed with sadness' after marriage splitA PLACE IN THE SUN'S Laura Hamilton has broken her silence on her split from husband Alex Goward, after announcing the shock separation on social media last month.
Read more »
Hopes of an armistice in war of WAGSThe messages featured in the latest round of the costly London legal battle between the two women after Ms Rooney accused Ms Vardy of leaking the stories to The Sun.
Read more »
Eric Zemmour: 'Boris Johnson is the leader I feel closest to'🇫🇷 Hard-Right presidential candidate Eric Zemmour said he was 'culturally and intellectually' closest to Boris Johnson out of all world leaders as he likened himself to the British Prime Minister
Read more »
Sajid Javid defends Carrie Johnson saying attacks on her are 'sexist'A ‘brutal briefing campaign’ against his former special adviser Carrie Johnson is rooted in misogyny, Sajid Javid has said.
Read more »