As 2018 draws to a close, it makes sense that the 46th Pirelli Calendar has finally arrived – with his year’s iteration shot by the legendary photographer Albert Watson. Entitled Dreaming, the series documents four women of agency working hard at their passions. 

The series’ 40 noir stills revolve around four narratives. One of them is a recently single woman, played by American supermodel Gigi Hadid, who finds companionship in a pensive man: fashion designer Alexander Wang. American actress Julia Garner plays a budding photographer who draws inspiration from nature and solitude. Misty Copeland, an American ballet dancer, plays herself, pirouetting alone and with Calvin Royal III. Finally, French supermodel and actor Laetitia Casta is a painter who lives alone with her partner, an excited dancer, Sergei Polunin.

All the photographs are shot in a 16:9 film format. This makes the images wider and larger and was done purposefully to emphasise Albert Watson’s appreciation of film. It also creates a sense of story inside the lives of these women.

“I looked for pictures that were of beautiful quality, with depth to them, and that had some kind of narrative,” explains Watson of the series. “I wanted to create something that was more than just a portrait of somebody – I wanted it to look just like a film still. I wanted people looking at the Calendar to see that my aim was photography in its purest form, exploring the women I was photographing and creating a situation that would convey a positive vision of women today.”

The last decade of Pirelli Calendars have kept up with cultural movements. The 2018 calendar, shot by Tim Walker featured an all black cast, while the 2017 campaign by Peter Lindbergh went completely un-retouched. To see what 2020 will be the year of, watch this space.