Pirelli’s calendar for 2018 has been unveiled - and for the first time it features an all-black cast.
The annual limited edition calendar was this year inspired by Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novel Alice in Wonderland. It stars 22-year-old South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot as Alice, alongside 16 other models, actors and activists.
Duckie Thott is pictured in the image below.
Naomi Campbell takes on the role of the Royal Beheader, Whoopi Goldberg is the Royal Duchess, and American model Slick Woods is styled as the Mad Hatter.
Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o, human rights activist Jaha Dukureh, and Thando Hopa - a South African lawyer and model with albinism - also feature in the calendar.
Thando Hopa, left, and Whoopi Goldberg are pictured in the image below.
The 2018 line-up was photographed by British fashion photographer Tim Walker and styled by British Vogue’s new editor-in-chief Edward Enninful.
“The story of Alice has been told so many times and in so many ways, but always with a white cast,” Walker told The New York Times.
“There has never been a black Alice, so I wanted to push how fictional fantasy figures can be represented and explore evolving ideas of beauty.”
Launched in 1964 by the Italian tyre brand Pirelli, the calendar has featured some of the biggest names in fashion, often photographed nude or wearing little clothing.
The 2018 line-up takes the calendar in another new direction.
In 2016, Annie Leibovitz photographed stars including Serena Williams, Patti Smith and Amy Schumer rather than models, with the intention of celebrating their career accomplishments.
Peter Lindbergh’s 2017 shoot featured actresses Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Uma Thurman fully clothed and wearing minimal make-up.
Enninful also used his first Vogue cover to address diversity and put politics alongside fashion. The December 2017 issue features Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and writers Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith alongside Victoria Beckham and models Cara Delavigne and Jourdan Dunn.
