Fashion Salad

Pirelli Calendar 2016 foreword – Chinese actress Yao Chen / Photographer: Annie Leibovitz

Featuring real people in recent fashion imagery is not entirely new. While the new direction has already been drawn (Joan Didion posed for Celine, Marc Jacobs or Lanvin featured real people and role models in their ad-campaigns), the Pirelli calendar 2016 highlights once again an important shift of perspective. The Italian tire company, worldwide renowned for its annual photo series of top models and celebrities, shot by the best fashion photographers, breaks conventions for 2016 and becomes conceptual.

Showcasing ‘women of achievement’ instead of usual semi-naked models, the 2016 Pirelli calendar presents a special gallery of 13 charismatic women of different ages, picked from various fields (actors, bloggers, business women, artists etc.).

In the pages of new Pirelli calendar, Tavi Gevinson and Serena Williams sit next to Patti Smith, Shirin Nehat, Fran Lebowitz or Yoko Ono. Shot by Annie Leibovitz, everything looks quite natural yet incredibly powerful. Fascinating! Focusing on the consistency of persons rather than ideal/desirable/commercial feminine looks, the Pirelli approach succeeds to make a statement on relevant movements in contemporary culture.

The 12 ladies of Pirelli Calendar 2016: Natalia Vodianova, Kathleen Kennedy, Agnes Gund & Sadie Rain Hope-Gund, Serena Williams, Fran Lebowitz, Mellody Hobson, Ava Duvernay, Tavi Gevinson, Shirin Nehat, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Amy Schumer / Photographer: Annie Leibovitz