1965–1967 — Location and Ambition

Brian Duffy shot the 1965 edition. The series moved through exotic locations — the Bahamas, Jamaica, California — building the iconography of sun, sand, and aspiration that would define the calendar's first decade. The product itself — tyres — appeared in increasingly subtle, almost subliminal form: tread patterns in sand, circular motifs in composition.

1968–1969 — Art and Poetry

Harri Peccinotti photographed both the 1968 and 1969 editions. The 1968 calendar drew on the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Allen Ginsberg, and Ronsard. The 1969 edition, shot on California's beaches, rejected formal poses entirely in favour of spontaneous, natural compositions — a direct response to the spirit of 1968 and the emerging counter-culture.

1972 — The First Woman Photographer

In 1972, Sarah Moon became the first woman to shoot the Pirelli Calendar. Her photographs — taken at the Villa Les Tilleuls in Paris — were shot in a haunting, impressionistic style: sepia tones, soft diffused light, atmospheric compositions that resembled Renoir paintings more than commercial photography. They remain among the most discussed images in the calendar's history.

1974 — The First Hiatus

In March 1974, Pirelli announced that the calendar would be discontinued. The oil crisis, escalating production costs, and the global recession made the expense of the project difficult to justify. The announcement provoked considerably more media attention than the original 1964 launch had — a measure of how significant the calendar had become. During the nine-year hiatus, old editions became more collectible. In 1980, the Tate acquired a copy of the 1973 Pirelli Calendar for its permanent collection — conferring on it a formal status as an art object.

1987 — Terence Donovan and an All-Black Cast

In 1987, Terence Donovan — who had shot the rejected 1963 prototype — finally made his Pirelli Calendar. It was groundbreaking for its time: an edition featuring exclusively Black models, including a 16-year-old Naomi Campbell at the very beginning of her career. Campbell would go on to appear in five Pirelli Calendars across her career — the most appearances of any model in the series' history to that point.

1988 — The First Male Model

Barry Lategan's 1988 edition included a male model for the first time in the calendar's history — a small but significant departure from the entirely female-focused format that had defined the previous two decades.

1990 — Black and White and the Olympics

Arthur Elgort produced the first Pirelli Calendar shot entirely in black and white in 1990, devoting the edition to the Olympic Games and the work of German film director Leni Riefenstahl. The aesthetic decision signalled a growing willingness to use the calendar format for conceptual or thematic work, rather than pure glamour.

1994 — Herb Ritts and the Supermodel Era

Herb Ritts shot the 1994 edition in the Bahamas, titled A Homage to Women. His brief, as described by Pirelli, was to capture "the women of the 1990s and their place in the world: proud, sexy and beautiful on the inside." The cast — Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, Kate Moss, Karen Alexander — represented the peak of the supermodel era. The edition marked a deliberate shift toward named models as the calendar's primary draw, alongside named photographers.

1995 — Richard Avedon and Seasons

The 1995 edition, photographed by Richard Avedon in New York and launched at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on 8 November 1994, is widely regarded as the most significant Pirelli Calendar of the decade. Titled Seasons, the edition assigned one season to each of four models: Naomi Campbell (Summer), Christy Turlington (Autumn), Nadja Auermann (Winter), and Farrah Summerford (Spring). Shot against white studio backgrounds — a radical departure from the exotic locations that had characterised the series — the images are as close to formal portraiture as the calendar has ever come. Avedon was 72 years old. He would return for the 1997 edition.

1996 — Peter Lindbergh

Peter Lindbergh photographed the 1996 edition with Carré Otis, Eva Herzigová, and Nastassja Kinski. Lindbergh would shoot the calendar three times — 1996, 2002, and 2017 — making him the most prolific photographer in The Cal™'s history. His approach consistently resisted idealisation, preferring a documentary intimacy that set his editions apart from the more classical glamour of the series.

1998 — Bruce Weber and the First Male Stars

In 1998, Bruce Weber introduced male film stars and musicians into the cast for the first time since the 1988 edition: Ewan McGregor, Bono, Robert Mitchum, John Malkovich, Kris Kristofferson, B.B. King. The edition's title — Women that Men Live For – Men that Women Live For — articulated the shift explicitly. Weber would shoot the calendar twice: 1998 and 2003.

2000 — Annie Leibovitz, First Edition

Annie Leibovitz shot her first Pirelli Calendar in 2000 in Rhinebeck, New York — a series of anatomically precise, meticulously framed nudes that, in the words of Fondazione Pirelli, "demystified the allure of the body." The edition was widely read as preparing the ground for the eventual abandonment of the nude format, which followed in 2002.

2011 — Karl Lagerfeld and Mythology

The 2011 edition by Karl Lagerfeld, shot in his Paris studio, reconstructed ancient myths and legends through the lens of contemporary fashion — among the most formally ambitious thematic editions of the series.

2018 — Tim Walker and Alice in Wonderland

British photographer Tim Walker shot the 2018 edition as a reimagining of Alice in Wonderland with an all-Black cast, designed by Shona Heath and styled by Edward Enninful. The cast included RuPaul as the Queen of Hearts, Whoopi Goldberg as the Royal Duchess, Lupita Nyong'o as the Dormouse, and Naomi Campbell. The edition is widely regarded as the most conceptually ambitious in the series' history.

2021 — The Pandemic Edition

The 2021 edition was cancelled due to the global coronavirus pandemic — the only year since 1984 in which no calendar was produced. The calendar returned in 2022 with an edition by Bryan Adams, focused on musicians, titled On the Road.

2024 — The First Black Photographer

The 2024 edition, marking the 60th anniversary of The Cal™, was photographed by Prince Gyasi — the first Black photographer to produce an edition in the calendar's entire history. The milestone came 60 years after the inaugural 1964 edition.