Dialing back nudity has officially become a thing this year, first with Playboy declaring an end to nude images and now the infamously young and naked Pirelli calendar (which is not sold but given to a list of about 20,000 VIPs) has done the same with this year’s calendar themed around accomplished women, representing an array of ages and backgrounds, most of whom are clothed.
The New York Times cites the growing social, political and economic power of women as some of the reasons why the Italian-based tire company Pirelli tapped photographer Annie Liebowitz to create a very different set of photographs, though perhaps once again it all goes back to the Internet and a generation fatigued by over exposure. Says subject Tavi Gavinson in an interview with W Magazine, “As an editorial decision, it just makes sense because there’s really nothing you could show people of a certain generation that would shock them at this point. I feel pretty desensitized and I can’t imagine a young person finding Playboy in their parents’ closet and being shocked.”
As well, it could just be that the naked trend is post peak. It seemed liked just a few years ago, every edgy edgy fashion magazine under the sun was featuring editorials themed around head-to-toe naked models, many of them young and new to the industry. Once leading publications and photographers grew weary of the trend and started putting them back in clothing, it was only a matter of time that the followers would follow.
Going forward, Pirelli has not committed to clothed women as something to expect in every calendar, though one has to guess that at least for the next few years, naked models will not be the thing to be.
