Pirelli Calendar 2006

Motoring Channel Staff - 1/12/2005

What do high performance Italian tyres have in common with the world's most beautiful women? Not a great deal, but when tradition is at stake the two become inseperable.

The Pirelli Calendar has become a cult object for more than 40 years for people who love photography and beauty. It is expected to arrive in Australia sometime this week after its recent World Premiere in Paris.

"The Cal" 2006 by the consolidated British-Turkish duo, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, and world renowned photographers that specialise in women's portraits, was shot in a striking sixties-like setting on the French Riviera and stars six extraordinarily beautiful and sensual women.

Jennifer Lopez, making her Pirelli Calendar debut, Giselle Bundchen, Guinevere Van Seenus, Kate Moss (who made her debut in the famous 1994 Herb Ritts edition), Karen Elson, and Natalia Vodianova are nude, sexy and gorgeous in 27 shots that make up the most transgressive edition of "The Cal".

Pirelli explains that seduction and freedom of expression are the absolute protagonists of the 2006 Calendar: fully aware of their fame and beauty, the six models feel free to undress and appear sensual and intriguing.

The body is portrayed as a free instrument of power: sensuality becomes a dolphin on a leash or a cat securely held in the nude arms of a naughty girl. True contemporary icons, the interpreters posed with impeccable professionalism, creating an immediate feeling with two of the world's greatest photographers.

The Alas-Piggot duo has an innovative, versatile style. Mert's tenacity blends perfectly with Marcus' inventiveness, and the result is an elegant and very personal approach to photography: provocative and opulent, the mainly black and white photos (except for subtle splashes of color on the cover and in the months of March and November) evoke Newton-like moods and portray an inebriating, wicked woman.

"Everything revolves around the models, and there is great freedom. We create images that follow no rules," underlined Mert. "The photo shoot was an experience where everything flowed and was very natural," added Marcus.

The extraordinary settings offered by Cap d'Antibes and the French Riviera are extremely elegant. The sea, the cliffs plunging into the water, luxurious yachts and fabulous villas with sumptuous gardens are the backdrops for this edition.

Interestingly, water is a dominant element that accentuates the shine of the skin and creates extraordinary light effects on wet bodies, which makes the photos particularly sensuous and enticing, says Pirelli. Strong, sexy black and white amplifies and completes the effects of the sea.

The modern and original photos have a sixties and seventies mood nonetheless, blending tradition and innovation, which the two photographers use to impress their very personal mark of distinction upon the calendar and simultaneously pay homage to its historical significance and the legend that has accompanied the highly sought-after calendar over the years.

The launch of the 2006 calendar coincides with the birth of www.pirellical.com, the new portal devoted to The Cal that presents 42 years of the history of photography. Three years from the launch of the first official website, the legend of the Pirelli Calendar is also renewed online, with new and exclusive content.

The Pirelli Calendar: A brief History.

The first international edition of the now-famous Pirelli Calendar (known to photography buffs simply as "The Cal") dates back to 1964 and was the work of Robert Freeman, the photographer of the Beatles, under the direction of Derek Forsyth and commissioned by the British subsidiary of the Pirelli Group, Pirelli UK Limited.

Thus was born a refined, exclusive product with artistic and cultural values that go well beyond the fields of fashion and glamour.

Since then the Pirelli Cal has continued to mark the passing months, offering through its images by the most acclaimed photographers of the day a special reading and interpretation of the changes that have characterised the past 40 years, often anticipating new trends in customs, particular regarding the role and image of women in modern society.

The Pirelli Calendar dates back to 1964 when the Marketing Department of Pirelli Ltd in the UK decided to issue a Calendar for their top U.K. customers as a gift for the closing year. In fact the Pirelli Calendar project had been born one year earlier, in 1963 with Terence Donovan, but had not met the approval of Pirelli's managers.

However, for 1964 the pictures were so beautiful that the new calendar was released for distribution and the success on the media was immediate.

Over a period of more than 30 years the Pirelli Calendars have shaken the media world with their audacity, innovation and spectacular imagery. The Calendar was very much a product of the cultural revolution which inspired a new sensuality, a new appreciation of the female form and, above all, an urgent need to break taboos.

In the sixties a tidal wave of creative energy swept through rock music, fashion, films and photography, and the stuffiness and austerity of post-war London quickly surrendered to a new vitality which turned the city into the style capital of the world. At the same time a tyre manufacturer with a foreign name shot to fame outside Italy with an annual PR extravaganza which became coveted by students, cabinet ministers, royalties and superstars alike.

An idea of creative genius became a printed icon for each year, spawned many inferior imitations and stretched the parameters of sensual fantasy and fabulous photography.

The Pirelli Calendar has redefined the rules of glamorous photography; by tradition calendars were hung on garage walls - now they hang in museums, and Pirelli have gone on redefining those rules year after year.

The aim of the Calendar is to produce through the photographer's creativity a theme and a set of pictures of high artistic level: its exclusivity was planned and carefully maintained by Pirelli.