Comedian Amy Schumer and tennis star Serena Williams are among the “trailblazing women” who have posed for the Pirelli 2016 calendar, with the portraits being taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Schumer and Williams are joined by the likes of Yoko Ono, Ava DuVernay, Tavi Gevinson, Patti Smith and Fran Lebowitz in the series of black-and-white studio images, which Leibovitz has stated is intended to highlight the “strong but natural” personalities of those she photographed.
Amy Schumer (Image Credit: Annie Leibovitz / Pirelli)
The annual calendar, which is produced by Pirelli tires, has traditionally featured nude supermodels in its pages, though Leibovitz’s previous photoshoot for the calendar in 2000 featured ballet dancers.
However, this year the photographer has focused upon powerful and famous women, each of a different background and ethnicity, and each with their own achievements within their respective field. It’s a big departure for the calendar, which has typically placed a precedence upon beauty (not to mention nudity), while this year tasteful nude portraits sit side-by-side with images of fully-clothed women such as Chinese actress Yao Chen and singer-songwriter Patti Smith.
Yao Chen (Image Credit: Annie Leibovitz / Pirelli
Serena Williams (Image Credit: Annie Leibovitz / Pirelli)
You can watch a behind the scenes video taken during the making of the calendar at PirelliCalendar.com.
