“The Pirelli Calendar is not the PTT calendar you see every day. the Pirelli Calendar is more a vision of the calendar than a down-to-earth calendar.” Karl Lagerfeld
After the Moscow preview in November 2010, the 38th edition of the famous Pirelli Calendar was launched in France at the Mini Palais in Paris.
Every year, the launch of the “Cal”, a cult object since its first edition in 1964, is one of the most eagerly awaited events for art lovers in France. On January 13, the 2011 Pirelli Calendar was presented to the French press, Pirelli customers and a number of prestigious guests at a private evening presented by Judith Godrèche and hosted by the cream of new talent, including Groupe Neimo, who gave a remarkable performance accompanied by singer Dani. Nearly 400 privileged guests were able to receive the object of all their envy, of which only 25,000 copies were sold worldwide.
After Botswana photographed by Peter Beard for the 2009 edition and Brazil revisited by enfant terrible Terry Richardson in 2010, the new Pirelli Calendar finally returns to its birthplace, the European continent. The 2011 edition has been entrusted to visionary aesthete Karl Lagerfeld to give birth to “Mythology”, Passport to a journey to the sources of classical civilization. A calendar that reflects his passion for Greco-Roman mythology, its legends, its gods and heroes, its tales of the origin of the world and of man.
Thirty-six shots review famous myths, composing a magnificent storybook where 24 divinities, heroes, muses and characters from Antiquity cross paths in paintings where nudity is treated with great modesty and elegance. Lagerfeld’s exacting style is evident here in his aesthetic rigor and his constant references to sculpture and the classical canons of beauty. A rare feature of “The Cal” is the use of black and white, the master’s preferred medium, to emphasize the beauty of the body and give silhouettes a three-dimensional perspective, thanks to a skilful use of light. Perfection, the cult of the body, youth and desire without punishment illustrate this “new idea of beauty” and breathe modernity into mythology.
To embody these figures from Olympus and the Pantheon, Karl Lagerfeld has assembled a dream cast: actress Julianne Moore (the only actress in this pantheon of beauty) and twenty of the world’s greatest supermodels, including most of the talented fashion designer’s muses. Bianca Balti, Elisa Sednaoui, Freja Beha Erichsen, Isabeli Fontana, Anja Rubik, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Erin Wasson, Natasha Poly, Lara Stone and Daria Werbowy are all mythological figures, accompanied by models Baptiste Giabiconi, Sébastien Jondeau, Brad Kroenig, Garrett Neff and Jake Davis.
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
