Every year, we wait with bated breath for the Pirelli Calendar to reveal its latest theme. On Sunday, Pirelli revealed the photographer behind the 2020 edition, along with its creative direction. Paolo Roversi photographed eight celebs who are, according to the calendar, “suited to playing the Shakespearian character today.” The theme of the 2020 Pirelli Calendar is “Looking for Juliet.”
“Eight [stars] that all embody a concept of love and who, because of the roles they have performed and the lives they have lived, could easily play the part of a modern Juliet,” a website for the calendar reads. The featured talent includes actress Emma Watson, actress Claire Foy, actor and model Indya Moore, Catalan singer Rosalia, Chinese pop star Chris Lee, actress Kristen Stewart, actress Mia Goth, and actress Yara Shahidi.
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Shahidi, who is a vocal activist and the star of Grown-ish, was a choice for the modern day Juliet because of her commitment to social justice. Moore was casted because the Pirelli version of Juliet shows that everyone is worthy of love. “I’m not a woman. My pronouns are they/them,” Moore tells the calendar. Moore’s inclusion in the Pirelli calendar, and their overall career, represents progress toward a more inclusive future. As Pirelli notes on its website, “Time has crowned [Indya] one of the 100 most influential people in the world for teaching everybody the beauty of diversity.”
For more than 50 years, the Pirelli calendar has served as a milestone for both a photographer and a model's careers. Last year's calendar featured Albert Watson’s exploration of the changing nature of ambition. In that version of the calendar, success is told through female and male protagonists like models Gigi Hadid and Laetitia Casta, ballet dancers Misty Copeland and Sergei Poullunin, designer Alexander Wang, actress Julia Garner, and more. And the year before that, an all-Black cast was shot by Tim Walker. During one of fashion's most politically charged eras, Paolo Roversi ask us to take a break from all of the noise and reexamine what a heroine looks like.