David LaChapelle Sexy Christmas Ad

The Pirelli Calendar

The coveted Pirelli calendar has it's match! Well, almost. I know that is hard to believe, but for every Yin there is a yang. But, first ........

For those unfamiliar with the Pirelli calendar, it is a promotional calendar for the Pirelli Tire company and it is given to a limited number of special clients and as a corporate gift. It is not sold retail. Highly touted photographers are commissioned to produce the imagery that graces the pages and consistently, the theme celebrates feminine beauty.

The entire premise, in my opinion, honors and elevates the classic and iconic garage mechanic's "hot chick on motorbike" calendars. While those are campy, they still have merit -- they're just hidden from the customer's glare. Of course, the Pirelli calendar employs more than titillation -- the depictions contain a sophisticated fashion edge packaged in an artful delivery.

An excellent reference for the calendars is found here -- this chart shows the year of the calendar, the photographer commissioned, the models featured, and the location. I encourage you to peruse this chart and look up the photographers.

And, while the Pirelli calendar doesn't disappoint, its counterpart attempts a likewise outcome but utilizes male beauty instead. The Dieux du Stade is the French Rugby team and they now put out a calendar that uses a similar marketing approach and plays on a similar aesthetic consideration. I'm not sure it ranks up there with Pirelli, but it is notable.

While the Pirelli calendar is for the guys, the Dieux du Stade is apparently also for the guys. : )

Dieux du Stade Calendar Imagery:

Turtle Wax

Believe it or not, this photograph was taken at the London Zoo in 1946. (Photographer unknown.) Turtle Wax, Inc., was founded in 1946. Coincidence or did Turtle Wax, Inc., get it's name upon seeing this photograph?

Quentin Shih

"The Stranger in the Glass Box" is a series of photographs that Quentin Shih created for Christian Dior.

equally evocative

Two completely different shots, two different photographers, two different renderings, two stylistically different approaches -- and yet they move me in similar ways. How to explain it?

Left: STEVEN MEISEL

Right: ELLEN VON UNWERTH

Calvin Klein

Film actor and model, Kellan Lutz is slated to be the next Calvin Klein men's underwear model, following in the footsteps of other notables, Mark Wahlberg and Djimon Hounsou.

The late Herb Ritts photographed the campaign featuring Mark Wahlberg:

And, Peter Lindbergh photographed the campaign featuring Djimon Hounsou:

Suggestiveness

I remember being a kid and learning about the risque television commercials that flashed the word "sex" in between frames. And I heard about the accompanying print ads with ice-cubes hiding "sex" in swirly blue letters in hopes that your parents would buy that brand of vodka. It was said that suggestion or suggestiveness was either subliminal and intentionally placed or all in your head.

Pablo Picasso by Robert Doisneau

Elliott Erwitt

Man Ray

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin

My first introduction to Guy Bourdin and probably a notable reference for many photographers is that of his Charles Jourdan shoe campaign of the 1970s. Bourdin's fashion photography defined a style that I think hibernated for awhile and then reemerged to influence perhaps Fiona Apple's "Criminal" music video and maybe even Juergen Teller's current Marc Jacob ads, albeit the Marc Jacob ads seem unrelated and blatantly stark verging on mocking by comparison. But in all, the core is an almost defiant favoring of object and form versus light, and the static versus fluidity.