See Ethan James Green’s Sensual Take On the Pirelli Calendar

Under the theme of “Refresh and Reveal”, today Ethan James Green has unveiled his vision for the Pirelli 2025 Calendar. With a cast including actors Hunter Schafer, Jodie Turner-Smith – both former AnOther Magazine cover stars – Vincent Cassel (La Haine), Hoyeon Jung (Squid Game), Simone Ashley (Bridgerton, Sex Education) and John Boyega (Star Wars), alongside artist Martine Gutierrez, writer and TV host Padma Lakshmi, musician Elodie, and models Connie Fleming, Jenny Shimizu and Green himself (an ex-model) – “the only person I could tell to be completely nude was myself,” he says – the images herald a return to the sexier, more sensual history of the calendar’s illustrious 61-year history (for a more conclusive history of the calendar, from 1964 up until the present day, head here). 

Shot in a makeshift studio and against the backdrop of the historic white sand beaches and turquoise ocean of Miami’s Virginia Key Beach Park, Green’s images centre the beauty of nature – driftwood and dried foliage abound – alongside a more pared-back, no-makeup makeup approach to beauty. Green confessed to having been particularly inspired by previous Pirelli Calendars lensed by Herb Ritts – who also shot on a beach – and Richard Avedon in the 90s, images he felt were “timeless”. He expressed his hopes that his own images wouldn’t feel dated 30 years on either, and that, like his forebears, they would be referenced by future Pirelli Calendar photographers too. 

Green has made a career shooting fashion editorials for magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W and Another Man, alongside more personal documentary projects – often shot in black and white – of New York’s LGBTQ+ and underground communities. His second book, Bombshell, a striking ​​celebration of queer bodies and identities, featured trans and non-binary New York icons including actress Hari Nef, artist Connie Fleming (who appears in the Pirelli calendar), and model and stylist Dara Allen. Green carried his inclusive concept of beauty over to the Pirelli calendar, with Schafer, Fleming, Shimizu and Green himself all part of the LGBTQ+ community. Speaking on notions of beauty today, Green says, “It’s gotten a lot more exciting. Beauty was dictated at one point, but now it’s totally changed. It’s very inclusive.” 

When Green first got the call to do the calendar – which, serendipitously, fell on his birthday – he knew instantly what his vision would be. “Right away, I thought, if I’m going to do Pirelli, I’m going to do Pirelli. I’ll do something sexy, something that has a lot of skin.” Probed on the idea of sexiness in his work, he says it’s more about confidence. “There’s an element of that that makes people uncomfortable,“ he says. “But I think if you want to do something that’s pushing things forward, you have to make people feel a little uncomfortable.”