Pirelli has unveiled its annual calendar for 2019, which is all about championing female ambition.
Now in its 46th edition, the iconic calendar is a far cry from the pin-up aesthetic it was once renowned for, though this year's iteration does still feature some nude photography.
Dubbed “dreaming”, the photographic series by Albert Watson stars Gigi Hadid, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, and actors Julia Garner and Laetitia Casta, with each of them taking on different roles to tell the tale of four women pursuing their own dreams and passions.
The photographs take a cinematic format, with many shot in black and white, and was inspired by Watson’s passion for film, which prompted him to give each woman a specific character to play with her own backstory.
Hadid, for example, plays the role of a woman who has recently separated from her partner and lives alone in a glass tower. She poses alongside fashion designer Alexander Wang, who plays her confidante.
“I wanted to convey the sense of a woman thinking about her future, but also showing her in a situation of loneliness,” Watson, who was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, says of her character.
“We see her thinking about where she is going to go in life, what she will be doing tomorrow. I wanted it to be much more minimalistic than the other women and settings I photographed.”
Garner, who is renowned for her role in the popular Netflix drama Ozark, plays the part of a young photographer with a penchant for solitude - her images were shot in a botanical garden in Miami.
Casta plays the role of a painter who lives in a studio apartment with her partner, played by famed Ukranian ballet star Sergei Polunin. Both characters are dreaming of success in the art and dance worlds.
But some of the most beautiful images in this year’s calendar are of Copeland, whose impressive ballet poses show just how talented the American dancer is.
“Copeland’s character earns her living by dancing in a club, but at the same time she has also put up a little stage in her garden, where she practices dancing in order to become a star, sometimes with her boyfriend, played by Calvin Royal III,” Watson explains.
He adds that his intention was for each photograph to look like a film still, "I wanted people looking at the calendar to see that my aim was photography in its purest form, exploring the women I was photographing and creating a situation that would convey a positive vision of women today."
Watson's vision for the iconic calendar continues the trend of moving away from its pin-up roots, with photographer’s adopting specific themes in a bid to take a more creative approach.
2018’s calendar followed an Alice in Wonderland theme, featuring an all-black cast including Naomi Campbell, Whoopi Goldberg and Lupita Nyong’o.
Meanwhile, 2017 saw fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh capture a number of high-profile female actors, including Jessica Chastain, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet, in a series of black and white images.
