Serena Williams, Amy Schumer and Patti Smith star in Pirelli Calendar

Mike Gallagher

Nov 30, 2015 - 05:19

Nov 30, 2015 - 05:31

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Serena Williams, Amy Schumer and Patti Smith star in Pirelli Calendar

The Pirelli Calendar is taking 2016's issue in a whole new direction by featuring some of the world's most inspiring women - from artists to athletes and even bloggers. Here, Serena Williams proves her worth as a model as she poses on set

As one of the world's most exclusive calendars, Pirelli's is known for featuring the most globes top supermodels.

But the team behind the globe's most celebrated calendar is taking 2016's issue in a whole new direction by featuring some of the world's most inspiring women - from artists to athletes and even bloggers.

The 43rd edition, which was created by one of the most celebrated US photographers and portraitists, Annie Leibovitz, features the likes of Serena Williams, Amy Schumer and Yao Chen.

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The calendar, which has previously featured Gigi Hadid, Joan Smalls and Isabeli Fontana, has cast 13 women which Pirelli says are of outstanding professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment.

The famed calendar includes actress Yao Chen, the first Chinese UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador; Russian top model Natalia Vodianova, founder of the charity Naked Heart Russia; producer Kathleen Kennedy, the Chairperson of Lucasfilm and one of the most influential figures in Hollywood; art collector and patroness Agnes Gund (with her granddaughter Sadie Rain Hope-Gund).

President Emerita of the Museum of Mode Art in New York; tennis player Serena Williams, number one in the world; opinion leader, critic and writer Fran Lebowitz; the President of Ariel Investments, Mellody Hobson, who supports charity projects in Chicago and film director Ava DuVeay, whose films include Selma, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture in 2015, also star.

The glossy pages also feature blogger Tavi Gevinson, founder of Style Rookie and online magazine Rookie; Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat; artist, musician and performer Yoko Ono; singer Patti Smith, one of the top rock stars of all time; and the actress and stand-up comedian Amy Schumer.

As was the case with the first few calendars of the Sixties and, more recently, in Peter Lindbergh's 2002 Calendar, or Patrick Demarchelier's 2008 and Steve McCurry's 2013 Calendars, there are no nudes.

Speaking about her latest piece of work, Leibovitz said: 'The 2000 Calendar was an exercise in photographing nudes. It was a simple concept. For 2016, we did something completely different, but it is still simple. It is a classic set of black-and-white portraits made in the studio.

'When Pirelli approached me, they said they wanted to make a departure from the past. They suggested the idea of photographing distinguished women. After we agreed on that, the goal was to be very straightforward. I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense.

'I'm a great admirer of comediennes. The Amy Schumer portrait added some fun. It's as if she didn't get the memo saying that she could keep her clothes on.'

Last year's calendar featured Karen Elson, Anna Ewers, Isabeli Fontana, Gigi Hadid, Candice Huffine, Adriana Lima, Sasha Luss, Cameron Russel, Joan Smalls, Natalia Vodianova, Raquel Zimmerman.