Does the new Pirelli calendar signal a cultural change?

Since its premiere in 1963, the annual calendar issued by Pirelli, an Italian tire manufacturer, has become famous mostly for the arty, avant garde photos of semi-nude supermodels found in it.

Now, decades later, the Pirelli calendar is becoming famous for something else: Replacing the skin — most of it, anyway — with clothed women representing a decades-long age span who were chosen for the calendar on the basis of their accomplishments and the impact they're making in the world.

And if it's still the semi-nude photos of comedian Amy Schumer and tennis star Serena Wiliams that have gotten most of the press since the calendar's Monday release, this new direction has earned Pirelli exposure of a more favorable kind than it probably is used to.

In the past, the Pirelli calendar — which is distributed to just a handful of celebrity and VIP clients around the world — has featured such models as Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen and Christy Turlington.

This year, the calendar's roster of women includes Agnes Gund, president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art; author, essayist and culture commentator Fran Lebowitz; Mellody Hobson, president of a Chicago investment firm; musician/artist Yoko Ono; film director Ava DuVernay, whose credits include "Selma"; Iranian artist Shirin Neshat; producer Kathleen Kennedy, whose credits include many films with Steven Spielberg and, most recently, "Lincoln"; singer/poet/author Patti Smith; and Tavi Gevinson, founder and editor-in-chief of an online magazine for teenage girls.

Williams, Schumer and model/philanthropist Natalia Vodianova are the only women photographed in less than full dress, but even their photos are discreet and classy. Schumer even tweeted an image of her own photo with the caption: "Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman ... Thank you."

The photos (http://pirellicalendar.pirelli.com/en) are by Annie Leibovitz, who first became widely known for her work with Rolling Stone magazine. And with the news just a few months ago that Playboy no longer will be publishing photos of nude women, it's reasonable to wonder if there's a change — in, well, something — in the air.

Sincere effort by Pirelli to celebrate accomplished women? Or quick publicity gimmick aimed at diffusing a few decades' worth of sexism?

A bit of both, maybe. Besides, notes Sondra Cosgrove, a College of Southern Nevada history professor, even momentary blips on society's pop culture radar sometimes can, cumulatively and with time, turn into lasting societal change.

"I always think that stuff like this is marketing," Cosgrove says, "but capitalism can be used to advance civil rights."

Think, Cosgrove says, of American TV viewers seeing "more lead characters on TV shows that are of color, or (who are) LGBT or who are in nontraditional roles. Obviously, you're wanting to get a buzz going because you're doing something different, but it does advance civil rights."

Even if Pirelli's aim was merely to create a buzz, the calendar still "says to people that we can do different things," Cosgrove says.

"Being provocative is something Americans like, but some companies are provocative in ways that don't really advance civil rights. It's just being provocative and not making a statement," Cosgrove says.

Here, call it, maybe, provocation toward positive ends. In fact, maybe it's even a bit about redemption.

Pirelli has "marketed women's bodies for along time," Cosgrove says, and even "objectifying women's bodies and commodifying them."

To publish a calendar now focusing on accomplished women of all ages, "to me, this is the company saying, 'OK, we agree that we have probably been treating women badly and would like to atone for our sins' " Cosgrove says.

Also notable is how quickly the photos — particularly the photo of Schumer — have been distributed via social media. That, Cosgrove says, might reinforce to Pirelli people's approval of this year's tack and underscore the power that social media can have in fostering societal change.

"I promise you (Pirelli) is counting how many pictures get retweeted, liked, mentioned or quoted," Cosgrove says. "I tell my students, 'If you see something happening in the wide world and you like something, reinforce it to see more of it. Post it. Retweet it. Post it to Facebook.' Those get counted."

It's similar, Cosgrove says, to how TV in the '50s and '60s helped to promote social change.

"Now, we go back and see black lead characters and see women doing nontraditional roles. So TV's been doing that a long time, but, now, social media just speeds that process."

— Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280 or follow @JJPrzybys on Twitter.