Behind The Scenes: 2015 Pirelli Calendar Shoot

The 2015 Pirelli Calendar was recently unveiled, following a lineage of perhaps the most anticipated creative development of the year. The creator of the forty-second edition of “The Cal,” Steven Meisel is one of the world’s most successful fashion photographers, and is known for his eclectic but also reserved personality. In an intense five-day shoot last May in a New York studio, Meisel brought the absolute centrality of women back to the Pirelli Calendar in its most classic format. In his photographs, he brings us some of the key aesthetic models of our time – advertising icons, stars of the silver screen, the explicit rebelliousness of fashion – once again demonstrating his great skill in transforming the subjects of his own images. The photographer was assisted in this work of transformation by the styling team led by Carine Roitfeld – the former editor of Vogue France and long at the forefront of the fashion system, and by Pat McGrath, one of the world’s most famous make-up artists. With his astonishing creative talent and ability to interpret fashion trends, Meisel has captured some of the most representative icons of today’s society in his highly colorful images: “In my opinion”, says Meisel, “these are the key aesthetic models of today’s world. They represent the stereotypes that the fashion and star system impose upon us right now. I didn’t want to make a conceptual calendar, or link it to some particular location, but rather to create 12 posters in which women, in all their sensuality, are the absolute protagonists of 12 very different images. Since I wanted to limit the use of clothes and accessories and since I had absolute creative freedom, I found it very exciting to play with the colors, the makeup, and the materials. It was a very rewarding experience.”

This year’s calendar year is titled Calendar Girls 2015, and the 12 girls in question are top and emerging models: the Americans Gigi Hadid, Candice Huffine, Carolyn Murphy (who all appeared in the 1999 calendar by Herb Ritts) and Cameron Russell; the Brazilians Isabeli Fontana (who was in the Pirelli Calendars by Bruce Weber in 2003, by Patrick Demarchelier in 2005, by Peter Beard in 2009, by Karl Lagerfeld in 2011, by Mario Sorrenti in 2012, and by Steve McCurry in 2013), Adriana Lima (who was in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar by Patrick Demarchelier and in 2013 by Steve McCurry) and Raquel Zimmermann. Then there is Karen Elson from England (photographed in 2006 by Mert and Marcus), the Puerto Rican Joan Smalls (in the 2012 Pirelli Calendar by Mario Sorrenti) the Russians Natalia Vodianova (also in the 2003 Pirelli Calendar by Bruce Weber, in 2004 by Nick Knight and in 2006 by Mert and Marcus) and Sasha Luss, as well as Anna Ewers from Germany.

Here, we take a look at some exclusive backstage photos during the 2015 Pirelli Calendar shoot.