Imogen Thomas Presents the Calendars of 2012
Model Imogen Thomas introduced this round-up of the glamour calendars lined up for 2012.
Every autumn the glamour world turned its attention to the wall. Calendars were among the most dependable products of the lads’-mag era: a year’s worth of pictures, released in the run-up to Christmas and pinned up in garages, workshops and offices for the next twelve months.
A round-up like this one gave the season a host. Rather than listing calendars in isolation, a familiar face introduced the year’s crop, which lent the feature a personality and gave readers an easy way in. Here the host was Imogen Thomas, and the headline framed the piece around the calendars picked out as the standouts for 2012.
What a calendar round-up usually covered
- Single-model calendars, where one name carried all twelve months.
- Magazine-branded editions gathering a title’s regular models in one place.
- Themed sets built around a season, a location or a particular style of shoot.
The format suited the genre. A calendar is planned as a sequence, so photographers tended to vary wardrobe and setting month by month, moving from swimwear on a summer beach to lingerie and soft lighting for the winter pages. The result was usually more varied than a single magazine spread allowed, and collectors often treated each year’s releases as a set.
The original pictures belong to their publishers and are not reproduced here. This page records the feature for the archive: Imogen Thomas, the calendars of 2012, and a corner of glamour publishing that came round as reliably as the year itself.
More: Calendars & lists