Published on: 12/2/2015IST

Pirelli, an Italian tire manufacturer, has had a habit of releasing an annual calendar of nude and scantily-clad women that many women have been less than happy about. This year’s calendar, however, promises to be a PR coup – instead of their usual softcore-pornographic fare, their 2016 calendar will feature thinkers, athletes, businesspeople and other inspiring elites from the world of women.

Though the women in the photos are in various states of dress (or undress), that’s definitely not the focus this time around. Annie Leibovitz, the award-winning photographer behind this year’s calendar (whom we’ve written about before), said, “I started to think about the roles that women play, women who have achieved something. I wanted to make a classic set of portraits. I thought that the women should look strong but natural, and I decided to keep it a very simple exercise of shooting in the studio. This calendar is so completely different. It is a departure. The idea was not to have any pretense in these pictures and be very straightforward.”

What do you think about this new direction?

Amy Schumer

Serena Williams

Yoko Ono

Natalia Vodianova

 

Ava Duvernay

 Patti Smith

Yao Chen

Shirin Neshat

Tavi Gevinson

Mellody Hobson

Fran Lebowitz

Agnes Gund and Sadie Rain-Hope Gund

Kathleen Kennedy

Behind the scenes:

12/2/2015 | | Permalink