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Ladies and gentlemen, clothing is making a comeback. The naked lady might very well be on her way out and maybe, just maybe, our culture is preparing to return to modesty.
It started seven weeks ago when Playboy magazine shocked the world by announcing that it would no longer feature nude women. This week, the people over at Pirelli, the Italian tire company, followed suit.
Every year, Pirelli releases its infamous Pirelli calendar, which is sent as a corporate gift to the world’s rich and famous. And every year, the calendar features almost exclusively naked or nearly naked supermodels and celebrities. Pirelli is viewed as a classier version of the trashy, pin-up calendars full of naked or bikini-clad girls humping motorcycles and Ferraris that you might see in the garage of an American mechanic. But still, Pirelli has always been all about sex, offering twelve months of nipples, thongs, spread legs, and acres of skin. The models are some of the world’s most beautiful women, stripped to their skivvies (or less), and shot in deliberately sexual poses.
No one would call Pirelli’s past calendars empowering for women. Nudity has always been point of the calendar, even when the company stooped to asking sixteen-year-old Naomi Campbell to please take her clothes off for her photo, which she did. Last year, for example, when the calendar’s theme was “fetish,” the images featured lots of latex, shiny black boots, and bare breasts.
But this year, everything has changed. This year, nary a nipple can be found (at least as far as I can tell from the sneak-peek photos the company has released). With a few exceptions, the models are actually clothed, and not just in skimpy dresses or lingerie. They are wearing clothing; the kind real women wear. In fact, at least five photos feature women wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants. There’s even a (gasp!) turtleneck and a below-the-knee skirt.
Yes, the month of April shows a topless, underwear-clad Serena Williams, but her back is to the camera, her behind is actually covered, and sex appeal is not the point: the picture is an awe-inspiring display of her athleticism.
And yes, there’s Amy Schumer, who sits on a stool sipping her coffee in nothing but underwear and heels. She clearly didn’t get the “get-dressed” memo, but still, her breasts are covered, she’s not in a seductive pose, and her face has a definite “what-are-you-looking-at” expression rather than the sexy-eyed, come-hither look we’re used to seeing in Pirelli’s calendars.
Just as notable and just as surprising as the lack of nudity is Pirelli’s choice of models. Whereas in past years only the most stunning celebs and supermodels were paid to appear in the calendar, this year, women of achievement were invited to participate. There are film producers, artists, musicians, athletes, philanthropists, and Goodwill Ambassadors—women who are changing, in big ways and small, the cultural landscape of our world.
The only professional model present is Natalia Vodianova, the Russian beauty well known for her charity work, who, although posing naked in this year’s calendar, is largely covered in a long draping robe and is shown holding her youngest child on her hip.
So in just one year, Pirelli has gone from breasts to babies, celebrities to “sheros,” and models to mothers and grandmothers. A calendar that has always been naked-lady headquarters has become an artistic celebration of female accomplishment. How’s that for revolutionary?
This could all be one big publicity stunt. But the fact that it comes on the heels of Playboy’s announcement suggests that our culture might be quietly reaching a turning point on the issue of displays of women’s naked bodies. Of course, many magazines still unabashedly sexualize and commodify the female body (I’m looking at you, Maxim, and you, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue). But given the overwhelmingly positive response to Pirelli’s new calendar, perhaps this modest revolution in modesty will continue to grow.
The post Do Clothed Pinup Models Signal a Return to Modesty? appeared first on Acculturated.