Pirelli Taps Legendary/Controversial Photographer For New Calendar

Pirelli has enlisted famed fashion photographer Steven Meisel to lens the next installment of its famed, scantily clad model-filled calendar, the Telegraph reports. Meisel has been responsible for every Vogue Italia cover since 1988, a decade of Dolce & Gabbana campaigns, and imagery for Prada, Versace, Balenciaga, and Louis Vuitton — and, let's not forget, Madonna's early '90s book, Sex. Yet, he's strangely without a Pirelli calendar to his name, unlike his peers. Mario Testino, Nick Knight, Patrick Demarchelier, Annie Leibovitz, Karl Lagerfeld, and Mert & Marcus each previously contributed a dozen or so pictures to the Italian tire company's cause.

Meisel's edition of the calendar follows a special release of Helmut Newton's unpublished 1968 calendar to mark the corporate gift's 50th anniversary. For now, there's few details about Twelve Months of Meisel, but conveniently, it does shift the discussion from his recent domestic-violence-themed editorial for Vogue Italia.