The 2016 Pirelli calendar is here, and it’s looking very different from past years’ iterations. The annual calendar, produced by tire company Pirelli, features images from world-renowned photographers; previous years’ pages have been plastered with sultry nudes of supermodels, but this year’s version went for less skin and more “real.”
This year’s photos were shot by Annie Leibovitz, one of the world’s more revered photographers, and among the stars featured between the covers are comedian Amy Schumer, tennis master Serena Williams, Selma director Ava DuVernay, artist/musician Yoko Ono and rocker Patti Smith.
WATCH: Behind-the-scenes for the making of the 2016 Pirelli calendar
Schumer tweeted out her thanks to Leibovitz for shooting her almost-nude photo:
The 43rd edition of the calendar aims to feature 13 women of “outstanding professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment.”
At the calendar launch, Leibovitz explained that none of these photographs were planned with the male gaze in mind. The Serena Williams photo is “not a nude but a body study,” she said to The Guardian, while Schumer’s was meant to be comedic: “The idea was that she was the only one who had not got the memo about wearing clothes.”
Leibovitz refused to categorize the calendar as a feminist moment for Pirelli, instead saying, “Pirelli has always given free reign to the photographer, so it’s really about choice of photographer. I think the company has wanted to shift for a few years and my mandate was that they wanted to see some change.”
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