The 2018 Pirelli Calendar created by Tim Walker was presented at the Manhattan Center in New York. For the 45th edition of the Calendar, shot in London last May, the British photographer used his unmistakable style, made up of unusual sets and romantic motifs, to 'revisit' one of the most classic stories in Anglo-Saxon literature: that of " Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". His story in images was inspired not only by the fantastic story of Lewis Carroll, but also and above all by the illustrations that Carroll himself had already entrusted to John Tenniel for the first edition of 1865 and which in the 2018 Pirelli Calendar are transformed into 28 shots taken in 20 different and extraordinary sets of a new Wonderland. “Alice's story – Walker explained – has been told countless times and I wanted to go to the genesis of Lewis Carroll's imagination so that I could tell it all over again from the beginning. I wanted to find a different and original point of view”.
To realize his interpretation, Walker portrayed a cast of 18 characters, some already established and others emerging, including musicians, actors, models, political activists. They are Sudanese-Australian model Adut Akech, Ghanaian-British model and feminist activist Adwoa Aboah, Senegalese-German model Alpha Dia, Beninese-American actor and model Djimon Hounsou, South Sudanese-Australian model Duckie Thot, activist Gambian women's rights activist Jaha Dukureh, British model King Owusu, American rapper and singer Lil Yachty, Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o, British supermodel and actress Naomi Campbell, actor, television personality and singer-songwriter RuPaul, American actress Sasha Lane, rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs, American model Slick Woods, South African model and lawyer Thando Hopa, actress, comedian, author and TV host Whoopi Goldberg, British model Wilson Oryema and British stylist, designer and singer Zoe Bedeaux. Together they form an all black cast, as had already happened in the 1987 Calendar, when British photographer Terence Donovan portrayed five beautiful black women, including sixteen-year-old Naomi Campbell and model, writer and activist Waris Dirie.
To create her Calendar, which follows the one shot last year by Peter Lindbergh, Walker collaborated with two equally prominent artists: Shona Heath, one of the most accomplished creative directors and production designers in Britain, and fashion icon Edward Enninful , the designer who created this edition's elaborate costumes.
