The Pirelli calendar is 50 today.
Unlike most 50-year-olds, the 2014 edition of this iconic calendar continues its tradition of not featuring a single blemish or wrinkle. Instead, it once again brings together a menagerie of the world's most beautiful women in a show of surprisingly sophisticated elegance.
Previous Pirelli calendars have not been shy to make a mother blush and many have pushed the boundaries of good taste.
German photographer Uwe Ommer combined models and tyres in a very literal sense. The 1984 calendar featured a series of photographs in which models posed naked on a beach with tyre prints on their bottoms.
The result was beautiful but 1970s cheesy. This year's preview photographs of the calendar suggest a more grown-up approach.
Shot by legendary fashion photographers Patrick Demarchelier and Peter Lindbergh in New York, it features modelling heavyweights Alek Wek, Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Helena Christensen, Isabeli Fontana and Karolina Kurkova.
The women look demure and subtly sexy, by Pirelli standards, posing in a number of group shots in outfits ranging from black polo necks to an all white combination of blouses and underwear.
A Pirelli Calendar, however, would not be complete without bare skin and this year the focus appears to be on long legs.
This is also the year where the "older" model makes a comeback.
Karolina Kurkova, 29, is the youngest model to feature in the calendar and former Victoria's Secret model Helena Christensen, 44, is the oldest.
Isabeli Fontana, who has been the face of Armani Jeans, Hugo Boss and Chanel campaigns, is making her third consecutive appearance in the sought-after calendar.
As usual, mere mortals will not be able to buy the calendar. The Guardian writes that only 20000 VIPs on a carefully edited list will be sent the limited edition which, over the years, has featured beautiful women photographed by among the best photographers in the world. This year's calendar will be launched in Milan today.
www.pirelli.com
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