Refresh And Reveal The 2025 Pirelli Calendar By Ethan James Green, Presented In London At The Natural History Museum

The 2025 Pirelli Calendar, “Refresh and Reveal” by Ethan James  Green, will be presented today in London at the Natural History Museum. The fifty-first edition of  the calendar takes a sensual approach to its subjects, returning to the history of the Calendar and  its search for beauty revealed through the body. The 2025 Pirelli Calendar was shot between May  and June on the historic beaches of Miami’s Virginia Key Beach Park and an on-site studio set up. 

The cast includes actors, artists, singers, and models of various ages and nationalities, some of  whom have collaborated with Green throughout his career. 

The 24 photos of “Refresh and Reveal” - which portray 12 subjects, each featured in one color shot  and one black-and-white photograph, include American actress, model, and activist Hunter  Schafer, Indian-American television presenter and writer Padma Lakshmi, French actor Vincent  Cassel, Italian singer and actress Elodie, British actress Simone Ashley, South Korean actress  Hoyeon, British actress Jodie Turner-Smith, American artist Martine Gutierrez, American model and  fashion illustrator Connie Fleming, and British actor John Boyega, and American model Jenny  Shimizu (also featured in the 1997 Avedon Calendar). “Refresh and Reveal” also includes Green  himself, the third time that the photographer of The Cal has appeared in the cast after Prince Gyasi  in 2024 and Bryan Adams in 2022. 

Born in Michigan and based in New York, Ethan James Green is a leading name in the world of  fashion photography and portraiture and is the latest of the 43 great artists (taking into account that  some editions were by pairs of photographers) called to shoot the Pirelli Calendar in its 61-year  history from 1964 to 2025. Supporting him in his creation of the 2025 Pirelli Calendar was a team  of creatives including Tonne Goodman, the former Vogue Fashion Editor, as the project’s fashion  director and creative consultant.

Conversation with Ethan James Green  

How did you discover you had been chosen to shoot the 2025 Pirelli Cal? 

I found out in February, on my birthday. The Pirelli team called me, not knowing it was my birthday.  It was an unexpected gift. To be included among this group of legendary photographers who shot  the Calendar before me – many of whom inspired my approach to photography. It was a great  honor and felt like a stamp of approval. 

Did you draw inspiration from previous Calendars? 

I was most excited by the ones by Richard Avedon and Herb Ritts from the 1990s, which really  capture the models and create beautiful, timeless images. That was a big part of what I wanted to  achieve: something people can look back on in 20 or 30 years that won’t feel dated and hopefully  will be referenced in the future.  

How did you come up with the Refresh and Reveal concept?  

Our general idea of beauty has expanded so much from what it used to be. I was excited to explore  beauty today and to be able to present it in a context like the Pirelli Calendar, which has always  celebrated it. We called the concept "Refresh and Reveal" because we’re returning to the  Calendar’s origins and celebrating the body in new ways that reflect the current moment. 

How did you approach the casting?  

The cast represents variety and diversity in all forms, with actors, artists, singers and models of  different ages and nationalities. Casting has always been an important part of my work, and I’m  lucky to have worked with many of the Pirelli models on different projects throughout my career. Others were people I was working with for the first time. But everyone got behind the concept of  the project, trusted the team, and allowed us to get some stunning images. The most important  lesson I have learned as a photographer is that you get the best shot when the subject is feeling  comfortable. Even if I give a lot of direction during the shoot, I also make a lot of space for those I  am photographing to work with me and give me feedback. I have always been very collaborative  and open, and that is one of the things I focused on in the Pirelli Calendar. 

Why did you want to include yourself in the Calendar?  

I put myself in the Calendar because the only person I could tell to be completely nude was myself.  To be naked in front of that many people was quite freeing. 

You shot the Calendar in Miami at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park. What were the biggest  challenges of the shoot?  

We took half the shots in May and the other half in June. In May, we had clear skies the whole time.  In June, we had a lot of rain. And that was great because it brought more variety to the beach  pictures. But the weather wasn’t the only challenge. For Vincent Cassel’s beach picture, for  example, we went deep into the water. For another shot, I remember standing on the highest rung  of a 20-foot ladder.  

How has working on the Pirelli Cal compared to your other work?  

I feel like all of my work comes from the same source of inspiration, so I often find that my personal  projects inform my work in fashion and vice versa. For example, I recently published my second  book, Bombshell, which is also an exploration of the models’ sexuality and how they express it on  camera. There’s definitely an echo of that in my approach to a project like Pirelli. Collaboration is  really important to my process and the models were active participants in making the images with  me.  

Conversation with Fashion Director Tonne Goodman  

What were the challenges for you as the fashion director of the 2025 Pirelli Calendar? 

The challenge is that you are revealing something - a body, an attitude, a sexuality, a freedom. In  this case, respecting Pirelli’s elegance and vision, you had to conceal to be able to reveal. That was  the challenge, to find clothes that I could use as a device, not to express fashion but to express a  personal attitude in revealing the body.  

How did you solve that challenge?  

We did extensive fittings, tried on many different clothes, and in this way, we gained the trust of the  models. I think that trust gave them the ability to be totally free, to know that they were in very safe  hands and that it was up to them how much they wanted to conceal or reveal, be vulnerable, or be  bold.  

How did you find working with Ethan on this project?  

Ethan has a great appreciation of elegance and the queer world, which is very important right now.  The breadth of his experience as a photographer and his personality are truly reflected in the  imagery he makes because he’s very sensitive, very bold, and very unapologetic. I feel that  combination, with the elegance that he can master in the studio through light and his direction, is  remarkable. 

After all your years in the industry, this was your first time working on the Pirelli Calendar. How did  you find it?  

It was absolutely fabulous. Not only was it a challenge, but I also understood that I was working on  a significant project. But it was also fun. “Fun” is one of those words that we sadly lack in our  vocabulary these days.