For most every year since 1964, Pirelli, the Italian tire maker, has bankrolled a very unusual, very expensive promotional calendar. It typically involves a coterie of the world’s hottest models jetting to an exquisitely remote clime — the Seychelles, say, or Botswana — to be photographed, nude, by an elite fashion photographer. The calendar began inauspiciously as a pinup that grease monkeys would post at continental service stations. But just like in the case of Michelin’s influential guidebook, it took on a life of its own and now its connection to motoring seems completely incidental. (One must give props to all these European tire makers for their enduring contributions to world culture; the best thing our own Goodyear has come up with so far is a blimp.)

This year, the mythical calendar was photographed for the first time by a native son of Italy, the Naples-born Mario Sorrenti, who set upon nearby Corsica with his former flames Kate Moss and Milla Jovovich, not to mention some highly coveted young beauties. Sorrenti’s calendar is peculiar in that each woman is not assigned to a month; instead, the calendar is constructed as a canvas-lined portfolio of 25 prints, which can be mixed and matched with a given month: Milla for March, Lara for May, whatever you fancy.