What makes 2016 Pirelli calendar so different and momentous

The first rule of marketing is universal: Bared breasts make the best offers. Obviously the only way to sell a story is by showing tits. If that fails, show ass as well. Not good enough? Throw in the entire naked female form in a hyper-sexualised manner. You know, neck arched, body in the throes of an orgasm – artfully lit and labelled under the guise of high art.

From hand soap to hamburgers, the use of sex to sell an image has been indiscriminate as say the production of a glossy calendar – shot and styled by the best in the business – by a tyre manufacturer. Yet for nearly 50 years, Pirelli has been pulling it off and making headlines for their contribution to photography.

Legends like Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts and even Karl Lagerfeld have persuaded actors and top models like Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Hillary Swank, Naomi Watts, Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen and Adriana Lima to strip and smoulder for the lens. To keep the myth that they were doing it for the creative process, the calendar didn't make its way to auto workshops or mechanic’s lockers, instead it was privately circulated among VIPs as a coffee table book.  

Of course the images were leaked on to the internet for maximum mileage.

So why should the perpetrator of the pin-up suddenly decide to break the mould? The dateline for 2016 reads like a veritable powerhouse of talent. The women in the list are better known for the resumes, rather than their reluctance to stay clothed. Fran Lebowitz, Amy Schumer, Tavi Gevinson, Ava DuVernay, Natalia Vodianova, Agnes Gund, Kathleen Kennedy, Mellody Hobson, Shirin Neshat, Yao Chen, Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, and Serena Williams take over the year. And the images are strong.

Unselfconscious, under styled, the women are shot as they are. As a result, they reveal more than they conceal by being completely covered up. At the launch of the calendar on Monday, photographer Annie Leibovitz made it clear that that none of these photographs had been conceived with the male gaze in mind.

In a video released on the making of the calendar she also rather tellingly revealed that the while the new direction came from Pirelli she didn't allow anyone from the company into the studio. In the same film, the other Lebowitz was quick to quip: “Perhaps clothed women are going to have a moment.”

While the images that received the maximum traction were still the nudes, it was finally for all the right reasons. Serena Williams – all power and strength, was described by Leibovitz as “not a nude but a body study”, and Amy Schumer’s as a tongue-in-cheek commentary - “The idea was that she was the only one who had not got the memo about wearing clothes.”  

While the internet may not have broken, a new cultural shift was hailed by this change in imagery. Schumer’s tweet, “Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you.” was retweeted 17.6K times and favourited 46.2K when I last checked earlier this evening.

So, why now?

Canadian PM Justine Trudeau put it so well: Because it is 2015.

While Pirelli clearly didn't want to alienate half the world’s population, the rest of the world (read men) needed to know that women aren’t impressed with sexism. Or the old world order that reduces them to sexual creatures simply to diminish their power. As recently as October this year, Playboy magazine decided to stop publishing nudes.

While the magazine may attribute this as part of relaunch strategy to attract millennials, its drop in circulation tells the real story.

Now all we need is for Victoria to get the not-so secret message that her angels really aren’t doing women any favours. And frankly their bras don't even give that much support.