Pirelli Makes More Than Tires: Pirelli Films, Calendars, Clothes & Watches

When you think of Pirelli, you probably think tires. Or Tyres, depending upon your country of origin.
But there's more to Pirelli, the company and the brand than just some cool 20" dubs.




Pirelli has chosen film via Internet to promote its brand and business activities.

After the successful first edition, the new Pirelli short film, Mission Zero , will star Uma Thurman and be directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame.

The Call was the first short film by PirelliFilm, directed by Antoine Fuqua, (King Arthur and Training Day), features John Malkovich and Naomi Campbell.


Watch The Call here.

The new short film Mission Zero is based on hair-raising chase scenes, but only the final scene of the clever plot will reveal the solution to a series of unexplainable events that happen to the star. Director Kathryn Bigelow gave a realistic interpretation of the script and added great emotional and psychological tension to the action scenes.


See Mission Zero here.
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Now, About That Pirelli Calendar

Those of you familiar with the annual Pirelli calendars should know that the 2008 one, shot by Patrick Demarchelier is out and can be seen here.

The 2008 Pirelli Calendar
The thirty-fifth edition of "The Cal", the first ever realized in Asia, is an exceptional visiting card to bring the world of Pirelli to the public of the Orient.



The 2008 Calendar is set entirely in Shanghai: the picturesque streets of the old French Concession, the splendid gardens of the former British Legation, the mysterious and sensual atmosphere of forbidden China, the convulsive Nanjing Road and the characteristic tea houses constitute the background for the camera shots that will grace the coming months.

Theme
The twenty-three intense portraits recount the pomp of ancient China, with its splendour and the colours in which the Oriental myth of female beauty “perfection, purity, grace - is searched out. "Very often I find Western people seem to go for the more cliché Chinese faces: long hair, slanted eyes. All that has changed I think. Many Chinese women are graceful; I think we have an inner grace that's more rare than you find in the West," affirmed Maggie Cheung, the well-known Chinese actress.

The Photographer
Patrick Demarchelier, the influential maestro of portrait photography, who for the second time authors the celebrated almanac (his first Pirelli Calendar was shot in 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) said: "The casting was a fascinating mix between the West and the Orient: an interesting group of faces."

How the Pirelli calendars began:
The Pirelli Calendar testifies how our group has always been able to compete effectively with the world's leading industries in the area of communications.
The Cal dates back to 1964, when the Marketing Department of Pirelli Ltd in the UK decided to issue a Calendar for their top U.K. customers as a gift for the closing year. In fact, the Pirelli Calendar project had been born one year earlier, in 1963, with Terence Donovan but it was never published.
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Wish you could see all the past Pirelli Calendars? Now you can.
Rizzoli has just issued a beautiful book of Pirelli's calendars.



The Complete Pirelli Calendars
1964-2007
Written by Edmondo Berselli, Contribution by Francesco Negri Arnoldi
Pub Date: March 2008
Format: Hardcover
Category: Photography
US Price: $85.00
CAN Price: $110.00
ISBN: 978-0-8478-3007-7 (0-8478-3007-1)
Publisher: Rizzoli
Trim Size: 11 x 11

My gift to you? This awesome deal:
At Overstock, they are pre-selling it now for only $50.00 and shipping is only $2.95! And that's 5% less than on Amazon.

about the book
The extraordinary history of the Pirelli calendars began in 1963 when the Pirelli tire company created a calendar featuring pin-up models as a promotional piece to send to its top customers as a gift for the closing year. Every year since, the company has called upon world-renowned photographers such as Richard Avedon, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Norman Parkinson, Bruce Weber, and Annie Leibovitz to photograph the world’s most beautiful women, including Iman, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Sophia Loren, Naomi Watts, and Penelope Cruz. It has continued to generate publicity for its exclusivity; a huge public clamors for the calendar, but it is only available to a very privileged list of corporate customers and VIPs.
A product of the cultural revolution of the 1960’s, the Pirelli calendar has shaken the world with the audacity, sensuality, and innovation of its content. The images stretch the parameters of sensual fantasy and fabulous photography, but their subtlety and quality also establish the calendar as a paradigm of its genre and a coveted collector’s item.
This book contains all the photographs of the calendars from 1964-2007, the never-published calendar of 1963, as well as intimate behind-the-scene photographs. The stunning imagery is accompanied by a comprehensive text, which traces not only the evolution of the calendar but also the history of photography in the past forty years.

About the Author
Italo Zannier is Professor of History of Photography in Venice and author of numerous books.
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And it doesn't stop there.


PZero is a line of clothing and accessories for men and women from Pirelli.

Their own press release:
Pirelli enters the world of clothing design with the PZero project.
Leaving aside fashion formulae and seasonal tendencies, in two years of research a group of experts has come up with a selection of unique styles. Archetypes successively developed in variations of colour and materials, in order to concentrate the functions of several items and accessories into a single piece.


PZERO: CUSTOM-BUILT DRESSING
The name of each model has the suffix PZero: code name of the Pirelli tyres of the same name, invented in 1987 for the Ferrari F40 saloon. This was a real first, developed from Formula One radials for use on ordinary roads.
The “custom-made” Pirelli quality is constant in any area. In fact, the description Pirelli gives its tyres, “highest performance coverings” will cover this clothing design project perfectly too.


One of the most fun items is their line of watches for both men and women. The band emulates a tire (tyre).
Take a look at a few of them:



Water-proof diving watches,, chrono, analog, date.... many styles for both men and women:



They even have them with diamonds for bling loving motor enthusiasts or ballers.

Shop for pirelli clothes, watches and more for men and women here.

More about Pirelli