New Calendar Recreates ‘Alice in Wonderland’ With All-Black Cast

By Sameer Rao Nov 13, 2017

New Calendar Recreates ‘Alice in Wonderland’ With All-Black Cast

Italian tire company Pirelli’s 2018 version of its annual calendar peeks through the looking glass with an “Alice in Wonderland”-inspired shoot cast entirely with Black entertainment and fashion icons. 

British Vogue describes the calendar as a “wondrous celebration of Black beauty” in an article announcing the release on Friday (November 10). British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful partnered with photographer Tim Walker and set designer Shona Heath to develop the calendar. The resulting shoot features 18 actors, musicians, models and more from throughout the African diaspora. Featured stars include RuPaul (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) and Djimon Hounsou (“Wayward Pines”) as the Queen and King of Hearts, respectively; Lupita Nyong’o (“Queen of Katwe”) as The Dormouse; Naomi Campbell and Sean Combs as the Royal Beheaders; and Whoopi Goldberg (“The View”) as the Royal Duchess. 

British Vogue adds that this is the first Pirelli calendar since 1987 to feature an all-Black cast.

“Out of my 31 years as a model, this has been the most phenomenal moment for diversity [in fashion],” Campbell told GQ. “We were born kings and queens,” adds Combs in the same article. “These images should have been shown a long time ago.”

Here are a few calendar images that British Vogue and fans tweeted over the weekend: 

Pirelli also published a behind-the-scenes video of the calendar shoot, which features commentary from models Slick Woods (The Mad Hatter) and Duckie Thot (“Alice”), as well as other calendar stars:   


Check out more from the shoot at Vogue.co.uk.

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Alice in WonderlandArchiveArts & CultureDjimon HounsouLupita Nyong'oPirelliRuPaulSean CombsWhoopi Goldberg