Gigi Hadid, Pirelli's 2019 Calendar Girl, on Success and Solitude
The faces of the 2019 Pirelli calendar have just been announced, Gigi Hadid among them. The upcoming annual calendar was shot by Albert Watson this April in Miami and New York City, with behind-the-scene images of Watson at work with his muses being released today. The theme focuses on the changing nature of ambition and success, as told through four female protagonists and three male supporting protagonists. The cast of the calendar-Gigi Hadid, Laetitia Casta, Misty Copeland, Julia Garner, Alexander Wang, Sergei Poullunin, and Calvin Royal III-each play a character.
Hadid plays a wealthy and successful woman who despite this, has sadness in her life and feels safe in her New York penthouse haven. Her confidant, played by Alexander Wang, comforts her. Ahead of the calendar reveal, Hadid told reporters that she can relate in some ways to her character’s struggle. "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 timezone 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."
Hadid told ELLE.com she defines success differently now that she has become such a big model. Her own rise to fame has shocked her. "It’s crazy because so many of the things that I’ve accomplished or done, I didn’t think I would do maybe ever," she said. "But also I thought that it would be a lot more spread out. So that was very exciting and surprising and cool. I’m so grateful for all the things that lead to each other."
"But now I define success as doing something that I’m inspired by very day," she continued. "I feel like I have a successful day when I’m really part of the team, and I feel like I worked my ass off, and I’m exhausted, and I just loved every picture and was there for every picture mentally. And part of that success takes learning the balance of when I have to be away and then I can come back kind of stronger and take on the job. But also success for me is keeping a certain normality for myself and my life.”
To obtain that normalcy, "I’ve learned in the last couple of years I’ve just learned to be assertive and not be scared that that will make me seem ungrateful or you know, make me seem like I don’t work hard," Hadid said. "Because I have to know and be confident in that when I’m on set, I do work hard. And that I deserve to sometimes be off. And it’s worth it because when I come back, I can be more consistent in my work.”
Here, the rest of the cast and descriptions of their characters in behind-the-scene imagery, per Pirelli:
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