To answer that question, let’s go back in time, to the very beginning of the Pirelli calendar. It all began in 1963, when British art director Derek Forsyth was asked to create a new ‘corporate freebie’ for tyre maker Pirelli; an exclusive gift that the company could hand out to its most loyal customers.

When a glass ashtray didn’t quite hit the spot, Forsyth struck upon an idea to create a ‘tasteful’ version of the pornographic calendars Pirelli clients hid away in their back offices; “something dealers could put up on the wall for customers to see,” he explained in a film by Pirelli. By hiring the best models, photographers and art directors, Forsyth sought to create the most covetable gift-with-purchase in the business.

At the beginning, the calendar was pretty tame. Fully clothed models posed next to tyres for a 1963 mock-up, but when that didn’t prove popular, Pirelli went in a different direction.

Over the next 10 years, the calendar became a manual of objectification. Following a particularly risqué installment that splashed uncomfortable-looking, latex-clad models across the page for every month, Pirelli finally took the calendar out of publication 1974.

After a 10-year hiatus, the calendar returned in 1984, with a brand-new strategy and a surprisingly refreshing take on diversity.

From soft porn to Shakespeare: inside the Pirelli Calendar’s cultural awakening