Tim Walker To Shoot 2018 Pirelli Calendar

[t-rex]

The 2018 Pirelli Calendar will be shot by British photographer Tim Walker, it has been revealed.

The Vogue favourite will be shooting in London next week, although the concept and cast remain firmly under wraps.

vogue.co.uk

 

[AD011620]

that is truly exciting!

 

[Benn98]

Years ago I actually would have been excited about this news, but not now. Not after I've seen the dark and gloomy state of Walker's work. It will just once again be woman shot in the corner of two walls, or peeping out of cirled holes. Nothing eventful.

 

[anlabe32]

^ Lol

Very exciting news. Can't wait to see it.

 

[Nymphaea]

Years ago I actually would have been excited about this news, but not now. Not after I've seen the dark and gloomy state of Walker's work. It will just once again be woman shot in the corner of two walls, or peeping out of cirled holes. Nothing eventful.

In other words Alice in Wonderland. I don't think I want to know/see anything with peeping out of holes or circles.
On a serious note, I hope he will surprise us. But most people in de fashion world today disappoint us with their work, so my hopes aren't high.

 

[kokobombon]

This has potential. The work he did for LOVE SS2016 was amazing, if they give him freedom and he chooses to use interesting references, I think I´m gonna love it

 

[LastNight]

I miss the days of Tim Walker's light, fluffy, fantastical shoots but I do think he's incredible and still produces some stunning (if not dark) work so I'm really excited about this.

 

[Nepenthes]

This is so exciting, can't wait! The backstage footage is bound to be amazing as well.

 

[happycanadian]

Reeeallly curious to see how this will turn out.

He definitely has a preferred 'type' of model/celebrity to photograph and typically they aren't known for doing 'sexy', which is obviously what the Pirelli calendar is about.

I adore Tim Walker, he's one of my favourites. I've got faith this'll be epic - but he'll have to stretch a bit outside his comfort zone to nail it.

 

[YohjiAddict]

Years ago I actually would have been excited about this news, but not now. Not after I've seen the dark and gloomy state of Walker's work. It will just once again be woman shot in the corner of two walls, or peeping out of cirled holes. Nothing eventful.

You're not giving him enough credit! There will also be some model tapping her fingers on a white table with a white background, a lot of standing around pinguin-style with a moody/aloof expression, male models with cardboard costumes and if we're lucky a shot or two with fisheye lenses...

 

[dodencebt]

You're not giving him enough credit! There will also be some model tapping her fingers on a white table with a white background, a lot of standing around pinguin-style with a moody/aloof expression, male models with cardboard costumes and if we're lucky a shot or two with fisheye lenses...

And yet your profile picture is by Tim Walker?

As it was said previously, if he gets a bit out of his comfort zone it would be an incredible calendar. I am ready for a Pirelli experiment anyway.

 

[Sweet rus]

I love Tim Walker's work, but I am not sure how his style is gonna translate into Pirelli's world. The calendar has lost its sex appeal anyway, so maybe it's just going to be an aesthetically and conceptually pleasing set of pictures. I miss good old days..

 

[Benn98]

Political marketing tool aside, this is actually looking good! Interesting cast.

Pirelli’s all-black calendar: ‘Any girl should be able to have their own fairytale’
Diversity takes centre stage as Naomi Campbell, Lupita Nyong’o, Whoopi Goldberg and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs feature in Tim Walker and Edward Enninful’s twisted version of Alice in Wonderland

by Ellie Violet Bramley
Thursday 20 July 2017 00.01 BST
Last modified on Thursday 20 July 2017 07.32 BST

‘I chop off people’s heads – and I like it.” Naomi Campbell looks up from her phone to tell a group of journalists about her role in the latest Pirelli calendar. It is inspired by John Tenniel’s original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, and Campbell is on set in a photographic studio in north London, surrounded by a twisted fairytale scene of mouldy jam tarts and scorched doll houses.

She plays the Royal Beheader – of course she does – and is joined by Lupita Nyong’o as a dormouse, Sean “Diddy” Combs as Campbell’s fellow beheader, South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot as Alice, Whoopi Goldberg as the Royal Duchess and Sasha Lane as the March Hare. Fashion’s woke poster-woman and feminist activist Adwoa Aboah has been shot as Tweedledee. And RuPaul will also appear, as the Queen of Hearts.

This is a staggeringly talented and eclectic cast. It is also all black, with the calendar styled by Edward Enninful, the newly appointed editor of British Vogue, the first person of colour to have held the post. That said, the concept is the work of a white photographer, Tim Walker, who explains his motivation by saying “it’s never been done before. Alice has never been told like this.”

This is not the first time Pirelli has featured an all-black lineup – in 1987, a 16-year-old Campbell posed topless for an edition that featured only black models. This time, however, the tone is wildly different. And it feels precision-engineered to strike a chord in an era in which fashion finally seems to be addressing its diversity problem, with Enninful’s appointment, the autumn/winter 2017 runway collections in just about every city featuring their most racially diverse cast ever, as well as Gucci’s recent campaign that featured only black models all being presented as green shoots of change.

But reflecting, even leading, cultural conversations is what the Pirelli calendar does these days, which may seem bizarre given that it is essentially a promotional exercise for tyres.

This was not always the way. For much of its history the calendar, launched in 1964, was most famous as a place where supermodels took off their kit – sometimes artily – for photographers ranging from Terry Richardson to Herb Ritts.

But in 2016 Pirelli commissioned Annie Leibovitz to shoot women known for their “professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment”, including Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Serena Williams and Amy Schumer, without the male gaze in mind. Earlier this year, Peter Lindbergh’s instalment continued in the same vein, presenting portraits of women with their clothes largely on: Uma Thurman was snapped in a rib-knit roll-neck. Both calendars inspired thinkpieces aplenty.

The cynical might question Pirelli’s motivations for using an all-black cast, and whether its nod to fashion’s vogue for diversity is a little too on the nose. With that box ticked, will Pirelli forget about diversity for its 2019 edition? Will the rest of the fashion industry, for that matter?

None of these concerns are at the fore on set, however, where models wearing vinyl skirts and platform shoes mill around to a soundtrack of Aretha Franklin’s Respect and Otis Redding’s (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher. The dark detritus of fairytale is strewn about – cakes with plastic hands erupting out of them, burnt toast and a looming, giant stuffed hare that refuses to stay upright.

South African Thando Hopa plays the Princess of Hearts. She is a law graduate who worked as a prosecutor specialising in sexual offence cases, and only got into modelling because she “wanted to have a greater level of representation for someone who looks so different” (she has albinism). Invested in the power of images – “you see someone portrayed in a particular way and it gives you inspiration and motivation” –

Hopa describes, laughing, her reaction to finding out that Walker planned to make this all-black Pirelli: “I actually phoned him up and I was like: ‘Let’s sit down and talk.’” Walker laid bare his thinking: “He said … any person with a different colour should be able to see themselves in any way. So any girl, whether she is black or Chinese or Indian, they should be able to have their own fairytale.

“This is an important step in culture development – to push images that aren’t generic, that don’t conform to stereotypes,” she says.

Hopa has considered the response the calendar might get, given that the fashion industry is still far from fully representative. “I hope that people see the intention of this. Personally I don’t find it controversial … I think people really should see the end goal and not obsess in the myopia … this is a unifying effort because now you have Alice looking differently from the way she does. Alice can be anyone.”

Let’s hope that this year’s buzzword – “diversity” – keeps sounding loudly into 2018 and beyond.

Image Source: Alessandro Scotti/Pirelli PR handout
Article Source: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/jul/19/pirellis-all-black-calendar-any-girl-should-be-able-to-have-their-own-fairytale#img-6

 

[russianelf]

RuPaul as the queen of hearts? Lmao instantly iconic

 

[maxlinden]

More behind the scene. Excited to see an all-black cast.

the-movemnt.tumblr

 

[kokobombon]

I can´t wait to see the end result, hopefully we´ll get HQs

 

[MagFan]

Pirelli? Really? Looks like yet another Walker's ed for LOVE or W

 

[Benn98]

Cast is perfect, but I can do without Alpha Dia who always look so harsh, Slick Woods, and Adwoah! Where are the real models? Ajak & Ataui Deng, Alek, Grace Bol. And we all know Grace Jones got robbed by Ru Paul.

I'm a big fan of Walker's, but this is stunt casting. Three seasons ago he may have been one of the least diverse photographers in fashion. So this doesn't ring true for me.

 

[anlabe32]

^ Edward Enninful is involved as the stylist so that might explain the all black cast. I'm not complaining though.

I think Alpha Dia is truly amazing btw.

 

[Deleted member 130879]

I loved Tim Walker for many years but this calendar is a fail. First of all, going from a nude calendar to a heavily prop'ed and styled fantasy calendar is too much of a leap. I was waiting for something closer to his Hieronymus Bosch editorial with bits of nude. That would have been much more fitting.

Then, of course, the casting is a hit and miss. The idea is fantastic but it was badly cast. Slick Woods, really? Are we still talking about this trainwreck of a model? And Adwoah is becoming the equivalent to Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, I'm over her. SO f**** over her. I'm so tired of Naomi too.
With the great amount of less known POC models and even some more widely known ones did he really have to go for the actresses, the singers, Naomi? This cast smells like Enninful and his lack of capabilities to cast outside his circle of friends/faves.

Also, is Alice wearing a super short dress? Is this some kind of Lolita in Wonderland? I can't deal with so much fail in something that should have been glorious.

The most exciting thing about those pictures is the fact that Walker isn't shooting with his "famed" Pentax 67.