PHOTO: Mario Sorrenti, Julianne Moore
Last night, Pirelli celebrated the global launch of the 2012 Pirelli Calendar by Mario Sorrenti with a Gala Dinner at the Park Avenue Armory.
Guests enjoyed the black tie affair with Julianne Moore as the Master of Ceremonies and a special performance by Andrea Bocelli, all to be followed by an after party set spun by DJ Samantha Ronson.
The gala unveiled the 39th issue of “The Cal” shot by Mario Sorrenti, the first Italian photographer to have shot the calendar.
Guests including Adrien Brody, Valentino Garavani, Sean Avery, Harry Peccinotti, Peter and Nejma Beard, Hans Feurer, Natasha Poly, Isabeli Fontana, Joan Smalls, Margareth Madé, Rinko Kikuchi, Malgosia Bela,Cornelia Guest, Theophilus London, Amy Sacco, Julian Schnabel and Rula Jebreal, Lola Schnabel, Stella Schnabel, Craig McDean, Francesca Sorrenti, Vanina Sorrenti, Mary Frey, Lady Liliana Cavendish, Eva & Michael Chow, Alice St. Clair Erskine, Cynthia Rowley and Bill Powers, Jean Pigozzi, Lauren Remington Platt, Andres Serrano and Irina Movmyga, Stavros Niarchos Jr., Jessica Hart, Tom Sachs and Sarah Hoover, John Elkann, Franca Sozzani, Li Xin, Scott Campbell, Julie Macklowe, Zani Gugelmann, Jim Gold, Carlos Souza, Vera Wang, Eve Therond, Miranda Brooks and Bastain Hallard, Anthony Edwards and Jeanine Lobell, Ellen Von Unwerth, Waris Ahluwalia, Allison Sarofim, Shala Monroque, Johan Lindeberg, Genevieve Jones, Glenn O’Brien and Gina Nanni, Lisa Marie Fernandez, Ales Blaum, Lisa Anastos, Keith and Inga Rubenstein, Pascal Dangin and Victoria Bartlett also enjoyed a delicious meal catered by Olivier Cheng.
The Pirelli Calendar is coveted globally for its high expression of female beauty, created by the world’s most renowned photographers. It has also become famous for its very limited circulation – available only to a select group of Pirelli VIPs, celebrities and society’s prominent figures. First published in 1964, the Pirelli Calendar started its life as a corporate gift and has since grown to be a cult fashion and collector’s object and the icon of the Italian tire company’s communication. Known as ‘The Cal’, the annual publication was paused in 1974 as an economizing cut-back in response to the world recession from the oil shock. It was resurrected 10 years later and has been published each year since.Appearing in the Calendar has become a mark of distinction for the talent chosen, as well as for the photographers commissioned to produce the images.
The Pirelli Calendar is published by the Pirelli Company’s UK subsidiary, with 20,000 copies distributed worldwide. It is perhaps the world’s only prestigious and exclusive calendar that features artistic nudes. Each edition immortalizes a very sophisticated concept of beauty as it has always been the calendar’s cornerstone to celebrate female beauty. The locations are often far-away and exotic, like the Bahamas, the Seychelles, Majorca and Tunisia and this year’s setting was the island of Corsica.
