[imagesource: Alessandro Scotti]

The yearly showcase of celebrity splendour, skillfully balancing the sophistication of haute couture and the allure of glossy magazine aesthetics is back.

That is the Pirelli Calendar 2025, which has made a return to the classic sexiness of nudity, as well.

The #MeToo movement “forced everyone to take a pause”, which the company respected enough to capture a fully clothed cast for the last few calendars. However, the photographer behind the 61st edition has vowed to make it sexy again, per The Guardian.

Ethan James Green, the photographer at the helm of 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 have 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.”

Snapping away in the Miami Keys, Green has been hard at work capturing the allure of a star-studded lineup of subjects, per usual. The 2025 edition, named Refresh and Reveal, will feature Hunter Schafer, Padma Lakshmi, John Boyega, Jodie Turner-Smith and Mugler muse Connie Fleming among others.

The 34-year-old artist 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 re-embrace of nudity marks a sharp pivot for the Italian tyre company, which had largely favoured clothed models in recent years. This choice mirrors a broader cultural trend in fashion and pop culture, where runways and celebrities increasingly celebrate the allure of exposed skin.

Green’s work has appeared in magazines like Time, W, Vogue, WSJ and The New Yorker. He’s also collaborated with several luxury labels, including Alexander McQueen, Dior, Fendi, Versace and Miu Miu. Official imagery for the Pirelli Calendar 2025 will be released later this year.

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 said he wanted to do something “classic and really sexy” using both a beach and studio location.

“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 an effort to counter claims of embodying the male gaze, Pirelli has dramatically revamped its calendar in recent years. This shift began with the 2016 edition when renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz was commissioned to capture images of influential ‘sheroes’ like Yoko Ono and Serena Williams, all portrayed fully clothed.

The calendar has done well to adapt to the times, but now, Green says, there are many different definitions of sexy, which can be explored in the right environment.

“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.”

Here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes at what Green and collaborators came up with, starting with Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley serving up fashion fervour in a draped, champagne-hued bodysuit.

Padma Lakshmi goes braless in a sheer dress:

Euphoria’s Hunter Schafer leaned into a wet-look dressing, decked in airy swathes of black tulle that gently sculpted her figure.

White Noise‘s Jodie Turner-Smith channelled Nineties Gianni Versace in a molten bronze bodycon that exuded gilded glitz.

There’s also Martine Gutierrez lying down with a skimpy piece of seaweed covering her nether region:

Let’s have it for the boys, too. John Boyega blessed our bleary week in a pair of briefs while posing in the shallows.

Saint Laurent muse Vincent Cassel brought the charisma, captured mid-dart on set that animated the scene.

The subdued sepia tones and back-to-basics really suit the introspection needed considering all the political drama unfolding around the world right now.

Going full-on rainbow would be about as fitting as a clown at a funeral.

[sources:guardian&hellomag]