Cara Delevingne | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
Italian tiremaker Pirelli unveiled the 2023 edition of its renowned annual calendar today. Having invited the creative minds of Paolo Roversi, Tim Walker, Peter Lindbergh, and Inez and Vinoodh to photograph it in the past, this year, the company sought out Australian photographer Emma Summerton to curate her own interpretation of the calendar to be shot in NYC, the fifth woman to make her mark since it was first published in 1964. Titled “Love Letters to the Muse,” Summerton was inspired by all the women who have led her to be the artist and person she is today. The 2023 calendar features 14 models in 28 different images captured from Summerton’s realism and dream-like gaze. Working with casting director Piergiorgio Del Moro, each model was intentionally picked by the pair for roles based on what they represent, with Summerton’s intent to focus on “the borderline between the role that the models play and what they really are.” With an almost entirely women-led team on set, Summerton describes the feeling of specifically working alongside fashion director Amanda Harlech as a learning experience, incredible and emotional. The calendar’s pages feature Lila Moss as the seer, Guinevere Van Seenus as the photographer, Adwoa Aboah as the queen, Karlie Kloss as the tech savant, Sasha Pivovarova as the painter, Lauren Wasser as the athlete, Emily Ratajkowski as the writer, Cara Delevingne as the performer, Bella Hadid as the sprite, Kaya Wilkins as the musician, Precious Lee as the storyteller, He Cong as the sage, Adut Akech as the dream catcher, and Ashley Graham as the activist. With an exclusive preview of the images and film directed by Carlo Alberto Orecchia, Models.com spoke to Emma Summerton, Ashley Graham, and Lauren Wasser about what Pirelli means to them, the creative process of the shoot, and much more. The calendar will be presented tonight at the Pirelli HangarBicocca contemporary art museum in Milan and you can watch the film here.
Precious Lee | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
You alluded to this in the film about how you essentially manifested shooting for Pirelli. How did you get the opportunity to shoot the Pirelli Calendar?
I don’t know how I got the opportunity. It was just a text message from Piergiorgio saying that he was talking to Pirelli about me, and I was like, “Oh my God, how the hell did that happen?”
What does the Pirelli calendar represent to you in your career?
What it represents to me is a platform where as a photographer, you really get to go deep into a concept or an idea and do you. So it’s a huge privilege, and I’ve followed it for years. So many of the photographers I’ve looked up to from when I very first started shooting or even started assisting have shot it. Starting with Sarah Moon (Ed. note: the first female photographer to shoot Pirelli in 1972) whose work, when I first saw it back in the early nineties, I felt so inspired to see that fashion photography could be this incredible creative thing. In Australia, you really didn’t see work like that, I saw a copy of Italian Vogue, and her work was in it and Paolo Roversi’s.
I thought that this cast was very spectacular, and they all came from different backgrounds, ages, and nationalities and with different values in terms of what they represent as models. So when working with Piergiorgio, what was your selection process for each character?
Well, in the beginning, I really wanted to have Guinevere on the calendar, and there were a couple of models I’d worked with before and known over the years who I knew had other things going on that fit with the concept. But it was just a really lovely ongoing conversation at the end of the day. It was also so great to actually hear about things that I didn’t know some girls were involved in. It was about them embodying or fitting into the different categories, but then some things had come up where maybe there wasn’t a category, but the woman was so amazing and doing something so incredible, so it was like, well let’s make it a category! It just morphed and changed over time and was a long creative conversation.
Guinevere-van-Seenus | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
How did you develop a character for them based on what they represent?
Well, some were very much set out, like the photographer being Guinevere was right from the beginning. Sasha is the painter because through my work, when I’m starting to come up with an idea, no matter what it’s for, if it’s a fashion editorial, whether it’s for a W Vogue or an independent magazine, I always ask myself “who the woman is?” “Where does she come from?” “What does she do, and how does she see herself in the world? and how can I get on board with that?” So I guess someone like Lauren I didn’t know about, but when Piergiorgio called me and said, What do you think? I was like, Oh my God, absolutely, how incredible to work with her and to give her a platform about something that needs to be discussed. I think it was great to be opened up and introduced to other possibilities that I hadn’t thought of.
Models.com interviewed you in 2009. At the time, you said that one of your goals was to create your personal book of work. Is that still really important to you?
So since then, I’ve had an exhibition in Zurich in 2019. Now, I’m talking to someone at the moment about doing a book of all the fashion pictures but going right back to when I first started doing fashion tests; it ranges from not published work to published work. It’s probably about 20 years worth. So I’m talking to someone about that, and the follow-up from that would be personal work. When I started shooting photos and working in photography was at art school, which was in the late eighties. That’s when I started experimenting with self-portraiture because I was terrified of shooting a person and then having to deal with my technical ineptitude. I was also incredibly shy, and I’m still quite shy, so this has been quite a process for me doing the documentary and interviews. There’s a whole body of work that is self-portraiture. Then there were the Terry de Havilland pictures, which started the Dazed and Confused Commission of my self portraits. So there, there are kind of two channels of my work, if you will. There’s the self-portrait, personal private work, which opened up the doors of fashion. Then there’s fashion photography from the beginning through to now, which started with me taking pictures of people I met as an assistant and shooting them, who are women that are still my friends now, and some of them are photographers. There is this long conversation that’s very private and also very shared. So there are two books, and I don’t know which one will happen first, but they’re both in conversation at the moment. We’re hoping to publish in the Spring of 2024.I first have to go through all the archives, and at the moment, I’m talking with the gallery about doing a solo show in the Fall of 2023 as well. I’m trying not to put myself under an enormous amount of stress and pressure with deadlines. I think as a photographer, we’re always like, I just want it to happen yesterday, so how do I make it happen? And it’s like, actually, just take your time.
Emily Ratajkowski | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
I noticed that mirrors seemed to be a recurring theme in your work. What about them intrigues you?
I always felt like they were a doorway, and I think there’s something really fascinating about your reflection and looking at yourself. I remember the first time I saw my profile; my mother had one of those dressing tables where you flipped the sides. I remember I think I was probably about 13 or 14, and that’s around the age when you start to think about the way you look. I remember seeing my profile and going out to my mother in the lounge room and asking, “Why didn’t you tell me I was so weird looking?” And she said, “What are you talking about?” I thought I looked like a freak. I said, “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” She was like, “What happened?” and I said, “I just saw my profile.” Obviously, the hormones were raging, and my mother thought I’d lost it. I guess it’s like a window of discovery. I’m really into the idea of doppelgängers, dual realities, and other worlds, and “what’s real and what’s not?” and “is a reflection real? How real is it?” With Karlie’s room, there’s something magical about it. Also, it’s that thing of looking at yourself and getting to know who you are; I guess there’s a sense of narcissism. If you can get past your horrified narcissism at your terrible profile, then you can maybe appreciate yourself differently. There are lots of layers to it.
What was the experience like shooting these images with a mostly led female-led team?
Fantastic. I mean, apart from Eugene but he is very in touch with his feminine side. I’ve worked with Viki Rutsch for many years, and we have a real shorthand, and it’s super easy. Amanda Harlech, whom I hadn’t worked with before, but it was such a great honor and learning experience; she’s like nobody else and has such a great knowledge of art history and fashion history. It was a great experience to have her mind there and ask, “what do you think of this?” and then she’d tell you something, and it’d be like, “no, I don’t know about that, tell me about that.” We just had a great dialogue. It was incredible and emotional.
Bella Hadid | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
Ashley Graham | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
What did it mean for Emma Summerton to cast you as the activist in the ‘23 Pirelli calendar? What was the experience like on set?
It was really great. This whole idea of living through Emma’s ideas of who she is and the fantasy world she created was really not only a privilege but an honor to have it be in the Parelli calendar. For so long, I’ve wanted to do it, but I think that this time came at a perfect time because of just the way that the world is changing and how models have a voice, and how we’re able to express ourselves and the change that we want to see within the industry. It was great to be also recognized for the work done and to see beauty of all different kinds.
You’re known as an advocate and activist for size inclusivity, and you were one of the first curve models in American Vogue. How do you think the industry can effectively tackle size inclusivity, both behind and in front of the lens?
It’s just such a big question because I’ve been doing this for 22 years, and when I was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, my career took off, and it felt like, wow, this is exactly what this industry needed, was to be shaken. Every year since then, there had always been this token big girl. They would put her on a pedestal. And for many years after that, it was still just that, right? And now there’s much more visibility on curve models and being able to talk about different shapes, colors, backgrounds, and sizes. And not just being this one idea of an hourglass size 12, 14 girls, she looks completely different because that’s how we look. It still feels like nothing has changed. There still is so much tokenism. When there is tokenism, it’s really sad to then go to the store or go on the website and know that your size isn’t there, and it never will be. So what change has been done? There’s been visibility, and there have been conversations that have never happened before. Women are starting to realize they can be comfortable in their skin because they can at least slowly see their image around them. But there still hasn’t been a dent enough for me to stop talking about it.
You touched on sample sizes and how often you see something on the runway, but then it’s actually not available in that size in stores.
Yes. When I walked at the Balmain S/S 23 & Couture show, Olivier made that outfit for me three days prior, and he has always gone up to a size 50 (Ed. note: European sizing) , and I’ve even seen them in the stores. To be out of Paris and have that, that’s remarkable, and there are a handful of designers that do it, and they’re consistent, but the handful isn’t enough. That’s not representation.
Lauren Wasser | Image courtesy of Karla Otto
It seems like resilience has been a large factor in your journey. What motivates you to push past your fears?
The fact that I’m just alive, man. The fact that I’m freaking at this moment right now, God is great. I would not be here without my faith. Also, just believing and knowing that I made it through the fucking trenches and I’m here. To be included in this lineup with these amazing women and having Emma shoot is just God’s work. You can’t write this stuff, so I’m just feeling honored.
You walked in the Louis Vuitton Resort show earlier in the year in San Diego, and then from that to being a part of the Pirelli calendar. Looking back, how would you describe this past year in terms of your career, and what does it mean for you coming to this next level of modeling?
It feels like I just got to the NBA. That’s how I feel like I finally made it from the Dean League to the freaking NBA. I’m finally leveled up, and people are starting to recognize who I am, what I stand for, and that I belong in this space. There is a space for me, and it just feels amazing.
Interestingly, Emma Summerton assigned you as the athlete character. I saw the sword, and I thought, obviously, the strength of what that meant with your golden legs. Take us back to that moment when you were even shooting with Emma. How was it?
It was just super crazy. The fit and then also the hairpiece. It was just this whole Joan of Arc experience, and then I felt empowered. The whole set was essentially all women, and you just felt the vibe, and there was no ego; it was like, let’s play and have fun.
