Eva Herzigová

Model, actress and designer

“I don’t think you really get asked to be in the Pirelli Calendar; you are chosen and you accept”

Eva Herzigová, an instantly recognisable face as one of the world’s most successful models for over 30 years now, may joke that she had no choice in the matter of joining the 2026 Pirelli Calendar shoot, but the invitation was made all the sweeter once she knew the photographer would be Sølve Sundsbø, whom she’s worked with many times before. And that was despite the fact that the invitation came with a request to represent the element of “water” by climbing into a water-filled tank and disappearing under the surface; a challenging task…

“You have to have just enough air in your lungs to float without sinking, then gracefully hold your breath in so you don’t have bubbles coming out of your nose, it’s a tricky one. I mean you have pretty much zero control of everything that goes on. Your hair is flowing in your face, your make-up is melting, your body keeps turning floating around, I couldn’t even see where Sølve was through the special glass they installed.”

Fortunately, Herzigová says she is at ease in the water and felt in extremely safe hands with Sundsbø, someone she says knows who she is as a person. She describes his photographer’s eye as one able to capture a woman’s beauty in its purest form…

“He combines the digital world with the most primitive kind of body structure – the skin, the colour, the hair. He can see through the person. It’s very visceral, very intimate, extremely bold and futuristic at the same time”

It’s Herzigová’s third time appearing in The Cal, having been photographed by Peter Lindbergh for the 1996 edition and Bruce Weber for the 1998 version. And she’s worked with many of the world’s top photographers since bursting onto the modelling scene in Paris in 1989 after leaving her native Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic).

“It’s a very intimate energy when you put yourself in front of the lens of a camera in that way. It’s very brave, especially for a young person. It takes you back a bit, but it makes you sit with yourself, probably for the first time ever. I think you discover yourself a lot when being photographed. You get to recognise where your strengths and weaknesses are.”

Herzigová speaks five languages fluently and lives in Italy with her husband and three sons. And she has a place she likes to go to when she wants to experience nature…

“It’s these lakes in the mountains in Switzerland where the water is cold and makes these beautiful sounds splashing against the rocks and there’s a bit of wind. The stones have a green colour and there are tall lush trees – a deep forest all around. And the birds are singing. I just love the environment there. It’s beautiful, absolutely magical. I am in my element there. I switch off and feel a burst of replenishing energy”.