The photographer behind the next Pirelli calendar has vowed to make it sexy again after #MeToo “forced everyone to take a pause” and the company began capturing a fully-clothed cast.
John Boyega is among the celebrities posing for the 2025 edition, named Refresh and Reveal, with the musclebound British actor flexing and crouching on a Florida Keys beach – while an assistant splashes him with water for full effect.
It also features Padma Lakshmi in a wispy thin tulle dress that exposes her breasts and the performance artist Martine Gutierrez naked aside from a piece of driftwood covering her pelvis.
Ethan James Green, the photographer behind this year’s calendar, says the time is right for celebrities to undress and show some skin – as well as examine how MeToo and social media has redefined sexiness.
“I think you know #MeToo, really forced everyone to pause, which is really good. And I think a lot of what sexy has become is like what we started seeing on people’s social media, usually through selfies,” says Green.
“So people have full control of what they’re putting out there, in showing how skin is captured, and not doing anything they’re not comfortable with. And then with me, my work has always been about collaboration with the subject.”
Green, 34, said the shoot aimed to “start back at the beginning, but then also figure out how that makes sense today,” adding: “We all come into this life naked. It’s kind of the best way to capture our true selves.”
The return to nudity is something of a handbrake turn for the Italian tyre company after it mostly opted for clothed models in recent years. The decision echoes a cultural shift in the world of fashion and popular culture, with catwalks and celebrities increasingly championing exposed flesh.
At this year’s Met Gala, Rita Ora wore little more than a string of beads while the rapper Doja Cat wore a soaking wet and transparent T-shirt. After a five-year hiatus, the Victoria Secret’s show is set to return to television screens in November – and the organisers have pledged “the wings will definitely be making a comeback”.
Green says he was inspired by previous Pirelli calendars, such as the one shot by Herb Ritts in 1994 featuring 90s supermodels Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford frolicking naked on a beach in the Bahamas.
He also cited Richard Avedon’s 1995 iteration, which featured Christy Turlington with her hands bound and a metal corset placed below her exposed breasts. He said he wanted to do something “classic and really sexy” using both a beach and studio location.
He added that, when was approached by the Italian tyre company to mastermind the shoots, he resolved to go back-to-basics on what the calendar provides.
“My initial thoughts when I was approached were: ‘If I’m going to do Pirelli, I want to do Pirelli.’ I wanted to go back to the sexy classic, like what we think of when we think of Pirelli,” he said.
When he explained his vision to Pirelli’s team they immediately agreed. “They were wanting the exact same thing. It was perfect.”
In recent years, Pirelli has overhauled its calendar in a bid to distance itself from allegations of representing the male gaze. It began with the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz being invited to shoot the 2016 edition, which featured pictures of clothed “sheroes” such as Yoko Ono and Serena Williams.
For 2017, an unretouched Dame Helen Mirren represented December, wrapped in a blanket, and a similarly unretouched Uma Thurman wore a polo neck. The 2018 calendar featured an all-black group of models, activists and actors shot by Tim Walker.
Now, Green says there are many different definitions of sexy, which can be explored in the right environment.
Green said: “But I think with nudity and sexiness now, at least in my experience, the subject who’s participating is able to participate in a larger way. Now, I think that will take you to the best picture.
“My work has always been about collaboration. When someone feels their best and they’re most comfortable, that’s when I get the picture.”
