The twelve most important Spanish models have come out with a gimmick of their own for the new year - a nude calendar to support ecological issues.

The photographer, who likes to call himself an artist, is Jaume Lopez from the Laiguana agency. You can see thumbs of the 12 pics at the agency site (and order it of course), but thank God we have Photo France, with quality reprints of the 10 best images.

I've scanned it at hi-res. If you don't support the ecology, don't click (just kidding). There are some good pictures, but you have to wonder, why do they have to be naked to make a point about an important issue?

Well, we all now the answer, and it gets clearer when you see the pics. Here you go:

---> Laura Sanchez a real classy picture. And it helps she is a classy beauty.

---> Vanessa Lorenzo I like that one, too. I like wood, but I like naked blondes on wood even more. How did she managed to climb there? I wish I was there to help!

---> Estefania Luyk Well, I don't know. Does it make you more motivated to recycle? I mean, if we had no plastic bottles, how would we have nude models protesting plastic?

---> Martina Klein This is the one to skip if you're on a slow connection. She is in dirty water in an aquarium, not my cup of tea.

---> Carla Collado Carla is probably the most beautiful model you've never heard of. In this pic you don't see her face much, but you can take my word for it.

---> Eleonora Bose Of course she's not ugly, she is "special". And photographed on a special bed of garbage, too. What's there not to love?

---> Eulalia Martine a spectacular photography. Eulalia is supposed to be a lonesome beast in a disappearing forest. I don't like it when it's always black models who get to play the "animal", but no doubt - it works.

---> Almuneda Fernandez Let's call it The Boring Pic.

---> Vanessa Asbert Well, the jury is still out. She is beautiful, even covered with oil pollution. Reminds me of Carole Laure in "Sweet Movie". I had to work it a bit in Photoshop to allow us see those wonderful nipples.

---> Veronica Blume Let's call it The So-so Pic.

---> Esther Canadas That's a bigger version of the pic above. It's against the water shortage (what, you didn't guess?). Canadas is still the most stunning model Spain has ever produced. I really wish they'd call me to help them on that one.

Updates:
1. Mystery surrounds the calendar - is it really a new one, as both Laiguana agency and Photo fr claim, or is it a re-packaging of a Greenpeace calendar from 2002? Analyze this (thx John)
2. The links and filenames of Vanessa and Almudena are reversed, sorry about that (thx klesser)
3. More of Martina Klein (hi-res) at her official site.
4. Much more of Almudena at this admiration site. (thx ninerfan)
5. The odel-book of Carla Collado is online here (special thx lejoe)
6. additional pics from this very project can be found here , including this great pic of Laura Sanchez (thx farmer)
7. And finally, more great pics from Photo France were scanned by Neroscan (special thx alejandro)

Gruner & Jahr Launches Test for New Magazine
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Gruner & Jahr USA publishing wants a piece of the 20-something market, and is testing interest with a steamy pitch to readers for Flash, a new title.

About 500,000 directmail solicitations for Flash will hit mailboxes this week. Emily Listfield, the editor in chief of Fitness, is spearheading the project, and is expected to have that title at both magazines should Flash launch.

Results of the direct-mail test won't be known for a few months, but Cindy Spengler, G&J's chief marketing officer, cautioned more tests could follow and thus it was hard to foresee a potential launch date. "We probably could" launch Flash in '03, if all goes well, she said, but added "there are no plans for that." Should the title launch, its rate base would be around 500,000-although the company's expectation for Flash would be that its circulation would end up significantly higher.

The direct-mail come-on promises a title significantly steamier than the rest of G&J's stable, which includes venerable women's titles like Family Circle. In a Maxim-esque touch, the top of the letter to subscribers is emblazoned with repetitions of the phrase "stars style shopping sex."

That credo suggests Flash would be a magazine that blends disparate elements from hot titles, in this case such magazines as Conde Nast Publications' Lucky, Time Inc.'s In Style and Fairchild Publications' Jane.

The tone, Ms. Listfield said, will be "cheeky and insider-ish but not cliquey," comparing it to a pal's furtive cellphone call from the bathroom at a party to report on what's being seen and heard. "No one is reaching this specific audience in a real lifestyle way" -- though some aforementioned titles may disagree.

The last potential launch for which G&J did direct mail tests -- almost exactly two years ago -- was Friday, an aborted project aimed at women in their 30s and 40s that was superceded by the Rosie O'Donnell joint venture, Rosie. (Joan Sheridan LaBarge, the publisher of Rosie, is involved in the Flash project.)

Despite the very public implosion of Rosie and continued weak performance from its high-profile business acquisitions Inc. and Fast Company, through November of this year G&J's overall ad pages are up 12.1%, a performance that bests the industry's other top players.