Amy Schumer Got Naked in the Right Way for the 2016 Pirelli Calendar

With a new year comes a new look for the famous Pirelli Calendar.

It’s a sign of the times – and a welcomed one.

At a time when the beauty market is booming with a widespread demand for everything from injectable treatments to hair and eyelash extensions, there is (finally) a simultaneous movement that embraces and defines women for their achievements as opposed to their physical appearance.

And – as a refreshing surprise – the Pirelli brand has jumped on board.

The famous Pirelli calendar has been known for its exclusive, provocative, pin-up style (some of which have bordered on Playboy levels) shots of famous females for almost 50 years.

But not anymore.

Gone are the perfectly toned, provocatively posed supermodels in artsy lighting. In their place are simpler portraits of real women of different shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and ages. The common denominator is that all of them are doing big things.

For the first time, famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz was behind the camera lens for the 2016 calendar. The women featured (only one of whom is a model by trade) are either fully clothed, or barely clad – but not for sexually gratuitous purposes. With that said, some guys (and ladies) will undoubtedly get off on the power and accomplishment that defines this year’s fierce, featured females.

For example, tennis powerhouse Serena Williams wears a bikini, but not in a manner that’s designed for the ogling eyes of dirty, scotch drinking old men, but to display her strength, tenacity, and power.

Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli

“It” funny woman Amy Schumer also makes a scantily clad appearance – dressed only in her underwear, with a coffee cup in hand – in a spoof of the traditional, sexually charged Pirelli nudity by showing how women are most often naked. In the shot, Schumer appears to be getting ready to pound the pavement for the workday (as opposed to waiting for someone to pound her, as the models have posed in the past).

The calendar also features fully clothed images of Patti Smith and Yao Chen in all of their world-dominating glory.

Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli

Others featured in the 2016 Pirelli calendar (but whose images are yet to be released), include Ava DuVernay, Yoko Ono, Dreamworks chair Mellody Hobson, Fran Lebowitz, model and activist Natalia Vodianova, artist Shirin Neshat, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Tavi Gevinson, and arts advocate Agnes Gund.

All of the women featured in year’s portraits were chosen for their “professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment.”

The move comes just months after Playboy decided to no longer feature fully nude models in its magazine. Is this a sign of a cultural shift? I sure hope so.

[ad_bb1]