This is What’s Trending Today.
Pirelli is known for making high-performance tires used on racing cars.
The Italy-based, Chinese-owned company is also known for producing calendars at the end of the year.
Actress Helen Mirren appears without makeup in the Pirelli 2017 calendar.
In years past, Pirelli calendars had photographs of models wearing very little clothing or nothing at all. But this year, the company decided to publish photos of Hollywood movie stars.
In many ways, all calendars are the same. They list the days of the year in exactly the same order. But people do not buy calendars just to know what day it is. Over the years, calendars have become popular gifts because many are filled with beautiful pictures.
Pirelli’s 2017 calendar has photos of 14 women who won Academy Awards. They include actors Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Helen Mirren.
This week, the company released some of the images to the media. All of the pictures are in black-and-white. None of the women are wearing makeup. Some look different from the way they do in movies.
A story on the Facebook page of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar listed comments both for and against the photos.
Some people said the pictures are a sign of progress for the “no makeup movement.” That is a movement where well-known women are trying to look more natural. Some performers say going out without putting on beauty products makes them feel more at ease in public.
One of the performers is the American singer Alicia Keys. Keys wrote that since people know what she looks like without wearing makeup, she feels more relaxed when she goes out in public. She appears in a television program with her “natural” look.
Other personalities have been taking selfies without makeup and posting the pictures on social media sites.
Until last year, the Pirelli calendar’s photos had subjects in provocative poses.
This year, the photographer was Germany’s Peter Lindbergh.
While his photos do not show women as the Pirelli calendar has in the past, they do show the women without another kind of covering: beauty products.
Lindbergh said he wanted his photos to show “a different beauty, more real and truthful and not manipulated…”
And that’s What’s Trending Today.
I’m Jill Robbins.
Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
What do you think of the images from the Pirelli calendar? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on
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Words in This Story
manipulate – v. to deal with or control (someone or something) in a clever and usually unfair or selfish way
provocative –adj. causing sexual feelings or excitement
selfie –n. a picture that you take of yourself especially by using the camera on your smartphone
trend – n. a way of behaving, proceeding, etc., that is developing and becoming more common
relax – v. to become or to cause (something) to become less tense, tight, or stiff