Gigi Hadid Is One Of Albert Watson's Four 2019 Pirelli Calendar Girls

The 2019 Pirelli calendar explores the fictional stories of four women: Gigi Hadid, Julia Garner, Laetitia Casta and Misty Copeland. The Vogue cover girl, actress, dancer and model, respectively, were given character parts by photographer Albert Watson, who shot the 12 pictures over 10 days in April on location in Miami and New York.

Hadid plays the woman who seemingly has it all, but her success is steeped in sadness. Her only haven is her plush New York apartment in the company of her confidant, who is played by Alexander Wang. Garner moonlights as a photographer, whose portfolio so far only contains pictures of plants, and not the portraits she desires. Her model, Astrid Eika, patiently sits for the aspiring auteur. Casta adopts the role of painter, who spends her days in a down-town loft with her dancer boyfriend, who is acted out by Sergei Polunin. Copeland, likewise, is a dancer, who supports her dream of stardom by working the stages in a local strip club. Her boyfriend, Calvin Royal III, also has his sights set on the West End stage.

Though behind-the-scenes images of Watson capturing his protagonists are all Pirelli has released so far, the photographs suggest the brilliance and grandeur that are typical tropes of the Scotsman’s work. The theme not only follows the unconventional path of the previous three calendars, which saw Pirelli move away from the soft-core calendar-girl aesthetic it had celebrated since 1964, but it celebrates Watson’s versatility as an artist. His four calendar girls will join the likes of Kate Moss, David Bowie, Alfred Hitchcock and Steve Jobs, who all sit in Watson's portfolio.