Pin Up Girl

For the past five decades, Pirelli, the Italian tire manufacturer based in Milan, has released calendars featuring fashion models and actresses, which are frequently shot by a renowned photographer. The Pirelli Calendar release each year is always exciting for fashion fans, although very few of them have likely seen one in the flesh. Since 1964, legendary photographers like Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Mario Sorrenti, Annie Lebovitz, Terry Richardson, Karl Lagerfeld and more have captured the world’s most famous and beautiful models for the branded calendar- which include Gisele, Cindy, Naomi, Kate, and a slew of other one name supermodels, as well as the new crop like Gigi Hadad. Usually reserved for important clients and VIPS, it’s now available to laymen thanks to the release of the publisher Taschen’s new book to mark the 50th anniversary of the iconic calendar.

50 years of Pirelli is a complete retrospective of the project where every edition is reproduced inside the 576-page tome, and includes never-before-seen images from the shoots and some rare censored photos that were considered too risqué by the editors and therefore never saw the light of day. The popular edition of the book- which retails for $69.99 is out now- but very hard to get a hold of. The book is also being released as a Collector’s Edition in a limited print run of 1,000 that includes artist proofs, which, despite costing $2,000, is already sold out online. Browsing through naked supermodels shot by the world’s best photographers in the comfort of your own home just may be more exciting than football season for the guys…  www.taschen.com