The 2012 Lavazza Calendar Reunites 12 Masters of Photography.

above: cover for 2012 Lavazza Calendar by Ellen von Unwerth

The 2012 Lavazza Calendar


The Lavazzers is the name of the twentieth edition of the Lavazza Calendar, which in celebration of such an important event reunites 12 of the masters of photography that helped to make the Lavazza Calendar such a success over the years: Erwin Olaf, Thierry Le Gouès, Miles Aldridge, Marino Parisotto, Eugenio Recuenco, Elliott Erwitt, Finlay MacKay, Mark Seliger, Annie Leibovitz, Albert Watson, David LaChapelle, Ellen von Unwerth.



They put themselves enthusiastically into play, celebrating their most intimate relationships with the Lavazza coffee through self-portraits. The 12 photographers, just like any closely knit team, were led by the Armando Testa agency, which was in charge of producing also this edition of the Lavazza Calendar and was art-directed by Fabio Novembre. The photographers interpreted themselves in innovative, unusual and imaginative shots.

January:

ERWIN OLAF
LOCATION: Studio Erwin Olaf, Amsterdam
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Wouter van Gens, Alessandro Pisano
STYLISTS: Monica Petit & Maartje Wevers
MAKE-UP ARRIST: Annemiek Bohnenn
SET DESIGN: Floris Vos
MODELS: Tabarra Diop, Irene Hoek, Jason King, Sefton Clarke, Chantal Hanse, Lotte Valk
POST PRODUCTION: Wieger Poutsma, Fisk-Imaging

February:

THIERRY LE GOUÈS
LOCATION: Upper East Studio, Paris
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT: Benoit Palluel
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Audrey Gautier
MODEL: Sahara Koné
POST PRODUCTION: Bepong

March:

MILES ALDRIDGE (see Miles Aldridge's 2010 Lavazza calendar)
LOCATION: Big Sky Studios, London
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Benjamin Madgwick, Tom Moran, Daniel Smith
STYLIST: Cathy Kasterine
MODEL: Ruby Aldridge
HAIR STYLIST: Kerry Warn
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Alice Ghendrih
SET DESIGN: Andy Hillman
POST PRODUCTION: Tapestry

April:

MARINO PARISOTTO
LOCATION: Alassio
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT: Silvio Repetto
STYLIST: Maky Hanykova
HAIR STYLIST & MAKE-UP ARTIST: Gianni Di Muro
MODELS: Katerina, Kristina H, Olena, Tereza
COSTUMES: La Perla, Verde Veronica, Verdissima, Via Uno, Mario Valentino, Sartoria De Valle

May:

EUGENIO RECUENCO
LOCATION: Eric Dover Studio, Madrid
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Pedro Galan, Dani Torres, Camilo Germain
STYLIST: Eugenio Recuenco
HAIR STYLIST & MAKE-UP ARTIST: Lewis Amarante
SET DESIGN: Eric Dover
POST PRODUCTION: Paz Otero, Focal Imagen

June:

ELLIOTT ERWITT
LOCATION: Central Park, New York City
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT: Mio Nakamura

July:

FINLAY MACKAY (see Finlay Mackay's 2008 Lavazza calendar)
LOCATION: Film Plus Studios, London
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANT: Jake Green
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Bill Turpin
SET DESIGN: Matt Duddleston
POST PRODUCTION: Box New York

August:

MARK SELIGER (see Mark Seliger's 2011 Lavazza calendar)
LOCATION: Mark Seliger Studio, New York City
HAIR STYLIST: Zaiya Latt
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Regine Thorre
MODEL: Misty Copeland
POST PRODUCTION: Printed at Norkin Digital Art, Ltd

September:

ANNIE LEIBOVITZ (see Annie Leibovitz' 2009 Lavazza calendar)
LOCATION: Plano, Illinois

October:

ALBERT WATSON
LOCATION: 69 Gansevoort Street, New York City
HAIR STYLIST & MAKE-UP ARTIST: Trevor Bowden
MODEL: Breaunna

November:

DAVID LACHAPELLE
LOCATION: Hana, Hawaii
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Drew Dawson, Tyson Lee Smyer, Jacob Schmidt
HAIR STYLIST: Larry McDaniel
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Sharon Gault
SET DESIGN: Henric Nieminen

December:

Inside back cover:

ELLEN VON UNWERTH
LOCATION: Chez Regine, Paris
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Joris Rossi, Yvan Gherman, Jerome Vivet
STYLIST: Joanna Schlenzka
HAIR STYLIST: Ed Moeland
MAKE-UP ARTIST: Cathyanne McAllister
MODEL (COVER): Valerie van der Graaf

CALENDAR CREDITS
SUPERVISION & COORDINATION
Lavazza Corporate Image - Advertising Department
CREATIVE PROJECT: Armando Testa
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Michele Mariani
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andrea Lantelme
COPYWRITER: Federico Bonenti

CON TE PARTIRO’ CREDITS
ART DIRECTION: Fabio Novembre
CATALOGUE: Onlab
PROJECT MAPPING: Apparati Effimeri
DIGITAL PROJECT: Neotokio!
POST PRODUCTION: Garret Suhrie
PHOTOGRAPHER ASSISTANTS: Nick Rogers, Matthias Gaggl

The Exhibit
The 2012 Lavazza Calendar is accompanied by an exhibition at the Triennale di Milano – Teatro dell’Arte which takes a look at all the Lavazza calendars for the past 20 years:

The exhibit and installation, LAVAZZA CON TE PARTIRO’, was also art directed by Fabio Novembre and includes the following:

all information and images courtesy of Lavazza and Fabio Novembre

View an interactive look at 20 years of Lavazza calendars here

The Sexiest Blackgama Ads Over the Past 43 Years and Interesting Trivia about the Campaign.

One of the most beautiful and enduring ad campaigns of all time doesn't get a lot of press because of its controversial product - real fur. But Blackglama has kept their same ad campaign and headline for over 40 years and it still works. Photographs of the world's most beautiful women - and in a few cases, men - wrapped in the world's finest black ranch mink.

In this post I will share with you what I feel are the sexiest ads from the campaign, the ones that truly warrant a "legend" status, the only males in the campaign, other work inspired by the ads and some juicy trivia. But first, a little background on how the ad campaign began.

In 1968, New York ad executive Jane Trahey conceived of the campaign and invented the name "Blackglama." She felt that fur wouldn't show up well in the photography so she devised a 'gimmick' - this being the association with someone very famous. The campaign was executed by her associate, Peter Rogers, who later, in 1974, bought out the firm and continued with the campaign. He also wrote the 1979 book "What Becomes A Legend Most?" about the campaign. More trivia about the campaign after the images.



The following images are my personal picks for the sexiest photos since the campaign began, shown from most recent to the earliest. I have chosen portraits that exude sexiness in different ways. Some show a lot of skin, others possess a come hither look in the subject's eyes that are just as sensual. You may be thinking it's odd that I chose to include Angela Lansbury and Julie Andrews in a man's suit (a nod to her role in Victor, Victoria) or a bundled up Lauren Bacall, but one look at their expressions and you'll see that many women certainly feel sexy when wrapped in the word's finest fur.

Janet Jackson, 2011:


Janet Jackson, 2010:

Elizabeth Hurley, 2008:

Naomi Cambell, 2007:

Elle Macpherson, 2005:

Cindy Crawford, 2004:

Gisele Bundchen, 2002:

Linda Evangelista, 2001:

Catherine Deneuve, 1989:

Cher, 1986:

Ann Margaret, 1985:

Sophia Loren, 1982:

Julie Andrews, 1982:

Natalie Wood, 1981:

Lana Turner, 1980:

Angela Lansbury, 1979:

Faye Dunaway, 1978:

Shirley Maclaine, 1977:

Liv Ullman, 1977:

Raquel Welch, 1975:

Bridget Bardot, 1970:

Maria callas, 1970:

Marlene Deitrich, 1969:

Lauren Bacall, 1968:

Barbra Streisand, 1968:


I can't just show you the sexiest without sharing with you some portraits of those who truly warrant the "legend" status.

Ten who truly warrant Legend status:
Lillian Gish, Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Helen Hayes, Lucille Ball, Diana Ross, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor






Trivia and tidbits about the Blackglama ad campaign:

• Photographer Richard Avedon shot the campaign for the first five years. Underrated American photographer Bill King, who died of AIDS in 1987, followed Avedon. Rocco Laspata of Laspata/Decaro has been shooting the campaign since then.

• With the exception of color photos in the 2004 and 2005 campaigns featuring Cindy Crawford and Elle Macpherson respectively, the portraits were always shot in black and white.

•Although the typeface has changed twice since the campaign's inception (first Cooper Black condensed, then Bodoni Condensed, and finally Optima) the ads have always had the same headline "What becomes a Legend most?*"

• *Originally, the line was typeset with an initial cap on the words "what" and "legend" only, when the typeface was changed from the original, the headline was set with all initial caps.

• From 2001 through 2009, the campaign featured supermodels (Linda Evangelista, Gisele Bündchen, Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, Naomi Campbell and Elizabeth Hurley) as opposed to screen and entertainment legends. This is also the year that more than one ad was shot for the campaign so as to show more available products from the brand.

• As of 1980, the models were never paid nor did their names appear on the ads, but they each received a coat of their choice. I do not know if this is still the case.

• Actress Claudette Colbert appeared in the campaign twice, once in 1971 and again in 1989:


•Liza Minelli, Lillian Hellman and Bette Davis all posed with lit cigarettes:


• Janet Jackson is the only model to be featured in the campaign for two consecutive years in a row (2010 and 2011).

• Andy Warhol was so fond of the Judy Garland ad in the campaign that he turned it into one of famous colored silkscreens:


• Carol Burnett was the only one to turn down a coat and instead asked for the money to be donated to charity:


• The only men to ever pose for the campaign were Ray Charles, Tommy Tune, Luciano Pavorotti and Rudolf Nureyev. Frank Sinatra bowed out at the last minute.



• Dolly Parton, Katharine Hepburn and Jackie Onassis turned down repeated offers to star in the campaign.

• In 1984 Joan Rivers released a comedy album on whose cover she posed as a Blackglama ad with the line altered to read "What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most?:


• PETA created their own mock version (below) of the ad campaign with Amy Sedaris in protest:


• Artist Mark Verabioff's “The Blackglama Insurgents” 2005, included 18 page tears from the campaign marked with masculine gestures in spray paint referencing male sexual pleasure and violence:



"All legends share a timelessness, a glamour, an endurance that goes beyond what’s currently or merely in vogue." -- Peter Rogers

You can see a gallery of all 108 legends here at Blackglama.

information sources: Blackglama.com, People Magazine article from 1979 and the 1979 book Blackglama: What Becomes A Legend Most (now out of print)