DUBAI: For the 2018 edition of Pirelli’s world-famous calendar, lauded Scottish photographer Albert Watson snapped a cohort of international models, including US-Palestinian star Gigi Hadid.
In the photographs, the models — four female protagonists and three male leads — pose as film characters who are “on the road to achieving or have achieved their goals in life,” according to the company’s website. Hadid, designer Alexander Wang, actresses Laetitia Casta and Julia Garner and dancers Misty Copeland, Sergei Polunin and Calvin Royal III have all been featured in the calendar, which has been released since 1963.
Casta plays the role of a painter who has vivid dreams of her future, while Garner plays a photographer who works in a botanical garden, but dreams of becoming a well-established portrait photographer. Meanwhile, Hadid plays the role of a wealthy and successful woman who only feels safe in her New York penthouse haven and whose life is pervaded by sadness. Her friend, played by Wang, comforts her in the photograph.
Shot in April 2018 in Miami and New York, Hadid spoke about the experience to reporters, saying: “It’s just funny that this character was chosen for me because I can really relate to her, it’s a little emotional.
“I’m always traveling alone and sometimes I find myself (alone at night), after being around hundreds of people in a setting that seems like there’s a lot going on for me, and it’s very glamorous and da-da-da. At the end of the night I’m in a hotel room by myself in a country where I don’t know anyone,” she said. “The time is weird at home so no one is awake to talk to (because of the time zone difference). I find myself in the same situations as this character where it’s kind of lonely and sad, but I think there’s kind of a beauty in that, in terms of getting to know yourself and learning how to find strength.”
The model, who recently got tongues wagging when she reportedly reunited with her singer boyfriend Zayn Malik after they split earlier this year, made international headlines in February by discussing her weight loss and said it was the result of learning to manage her Hashimoto’s Disease, not because of an eating disorder or drug use.
The model sent out a series of tweets stating that she would no longer respond to comments on her appearance.
“I will not further explain the way my body looks, just as anyone with a body type that doesn’t suit (your) ‘beauty’ expectation shouldn’t have to. Not to judge others, but drugs are not my thing. Stop putting me in that box just because you don’t understand the way my body has matured,” she said at the time.
