With the existence of Google calendars and online calendars and smart phones, it takes something pretty special in 2015 for a physical calendar that exists offline to make a splash and get people talking. The new , launched today, has done just that. Pirelli is an Italian tyre company that has released an exclusive yearly (obviously) calendar since 1964. And it seems people aren’t tyre-d of it yet. With a few exceptions, the shoots have generally featured models and actresses in various states of undress, shot by excellent photographers in beautiful locations (not that there’s anything wrong with that). However, the 2016 Pirelli calendar has taken a bit of a left turn, with iconic photographer Annie Leibovitz giving free reign to cast a different set of women.
Taking a detour from NSFW (Not Safe For Work, just so you know) photographs of models, Leibovitz’s vision was to ‘women of outstanding professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment’. And it is quite the broad list, featuring women like author Fran Lebowitz, Yoko Ono, film director Ava DuVernay, and Patti Smith, all featured in simple black and white portraits. Amy Schumer and Serena Williams are the only women who aren’t fully clothed, shot in frank and powerful photographs respectively.
As a woman who is attracted to women, I have never found ‘sexy’ calendars appealing. When I think of them, I immediately think of the time a nun from our Catholic School visited our home unannounced (a-nun-nounced). I relish in the memory of seeing the God-fearing panic flash in my brother’s eyes as he bolted into his room to slam shut his cupboard door where a calendar that would be incredibly inappropriate for a nun’s eyes hung, visible to the world. But I also think of visiting mechanics with my dad, and feeling wary and strange to walk into an environment where men would proudly hang a calendar featuring naked women in extremely sexualised positions for all to see. These kinds of calendars were obviously very different to the stylised and beautiful artistic shots of women that would traditionally be seen in the Pirelli calendars, but I still found myself delighting in the photos released today.
A big part of this is that the shots explicitly ignore the concept of the male gaze and categorically rejects objectification. This is partly done by having a female photographer, and by the nature of the photos themselves, but also by the kinds of women that Leibovitz has chosen. She has made a clear-cut decision to place emphasis on a different kind of loveliness. The only model featured, Natalia Vodianova (also a philanthropist), is photographed at a distance from the camera, holding her child. The women sprawl across a range of races and ages. The beauty of older women is often ignored; an appreciation for them is frequently absent. I can’t recall the last time I saw women in their 50s and 60s featured in a calendar (or anywhere), or shot as beautifully.
There is nothing wrong with NSFW photographs of beautiful young models, and models aren’t inherently inferior to the women featured in this calendar. But for me, those kinds of calendars can now hang next to the Firefighters Fight Fires With No Shirt On Even Though That Is Dangerous 2016 calendars in my No-Interest Hallway. I find them boring, tired, and overplayed. The 2016 Pirelli calendar is a small step toward appreciating different kinds of beauty, and hopefully the trend will continue. Give me a photo of a 60-year-old woman with the lines that an interesting life has given her, visible and stark on her face. Give me a photo of a beautiful fat woman. Give me a photo of a trans woman, comfortable and wonderful in her body. Give me a photo of a woman who uses a wheelchair.
Just give me real life, because real life is beautiful.
