Karl Lagerfeld | Pirelli Calendar 2011 | The Female Divinities & Muses Are Feminists

Is it possible that Karl Lagerfeld has been reading my script? So many of his words about the Pirelli 2011 Calendar resonate.

Lagerfeld unveiled the Pirelli 2011 Calendar ‘Mythology’ at the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow. the final package includes 36 photos total of 21 different “protagonists” — 15 female models, 5 male models including Lagerfeld muse Baptiste Giabiconi, and one Julianne Moore, who poses as the wife of Zeus.

Moore was in Moscow last night to attend a dinner in honor of the launch at the Stanislavsky Theater.

Models include Lara Stone (as Aphrodite, appropriately enough), Bianca Balti (as a Bacchante), Freja Beha Erichsen (as Apollo, Pollux, Orpheus), Isabeli Fontana (a Bacchante), Magdalena Frackowiak (as Athena, Estia), Anja Rubik (as Hermes, Terpsichore), Abbey Lee Kershaw (as Echo, Castor, Eurydice), Lakshmi Menon (a Bacchante), Heidi Mount (as Aurora, Amphitrite), Erin Wasson (as Ajax, a Bacchante), Natasha Poly (as Melpomene), Daria Werbowy (as Artemis, Penthesilea), and Iris Strubegger (as Athena).

Surprisingly, Lagerfeld picked up a favorite theme of Anne of Carversville, linking goddesses, religion and feminism. Yes, Karl Lagerfeld used the word ‘feminists’:

Because it’s my favourite religion: one god for every occasion. I’m a polytheist: all present-day religions are recent, but I prefer this mythology, which does without hell, without sin (an obstacle to happiness), and without forgiveness. We need to return to the disciplined form of beauty of Antiquity. Simone Weil said that Jesus was a direct descendant of Prometheus — which caused a scandal at the time. I love the goddesses, because they were the first emancipated women. They had a right to everything. The female divinities and the Muses are feminists!

As recently as 2009, Lagerfeld channeled Coco Chanel in a Harper’s Bazaar interview:

HB: Your clothing liberated women in the 1920s. Are you still a feminist?

CC: I was never a feminist because I was never ugly enough for that.

Enjoy the video of making the 2011 Pirelli Calendar:

More reading:

Ballet Performance in Chanel Couture Salon

The Karl Lagerfeld Ballet

Like Aristotle, Karl Lagerfeld Sees Women As Predators

Karl Lagerfeld’s Preferred Vision | No Women Allowed

Baptiste Giabiconi | Karl Lagerfeld | Purple Magazine

Interesting perspective on Karl Lagerfeld from London Times