For the third year in a row, the Pirelli calendar traded in its formerly sexed-up images for a more meaningful, in-depth project. The 2018 calendar, photographed by Tim Walker, showcases an all-black cast of entertainers and models in an Alice in Wonderland-themed shoot, marking the first time since 1987 that the calendar featured exclusively black talent.

The star-studded cast includes Whoopi Goldberg, Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell, Sean "Diddy" Combs, RuPaul, Dijmon Hounsou, Adwoa Aboah, Slick Woods, and more. Starring front and center, however, are some of the fresher faces of the group—Duckie Thot, who stars as Alice, and Thando Hopa, who appears alongside Whoopi Goldberg as The Princess of Hearts. Thot, who grew up in Australia, and Hopa, a black albino woman from South Africa, each had her own unique experience breaking into the fashion world—and each has some ideas about how the industry can become a better place for women of color.

In a candid conversation about race, diversity, and the hurdles fashion still has to overcome, Thot and Hopa discuss the impact of this year's Pirelli calendar with BAZAAR.com.

Harper's BAZAAR: As black women, what does an all-black Pirelli calendar mean to you?

Duckie Thot: For me, it's such a dream come true. I've always wanted to work with black people in fashion. Y0u don't get that every day. Sometimes when I'm on set and I see more than one black person I get a little excited, but to see everyone black on set was a very special moment for me. Honestly, in this industry, it's not really explored or acted upon to have all-black talent.

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Tim Walker
Duckie Thot as \'Alice\

Thando Hopa: I appreciated the fact that there was so many walks of blackness that were represented. Not just in terms of shades, but in terms of straight hair, natural hair, dreads, and different experiences of blackness. Different representations were there. I think diversity doesn't only mean diversity in terms of races; it means within blackness there's diversity, and I think that really came out in this. I really appreciated that.

DT: I love that you said that because a lot of the time, even in black communities, people don't understand that there is diversity in black culture. I'm a black woman but I'm born and raised in Australia and that's a whole different experience that many people have not come across. So once you put all of us in a room—all from different countries, all raised different places, we're all different shades, we all have different experiences as black people—to be able to bring that together and actually share our own experiences with each other and with the world is very important.

"Diversity doesn't only mean diversity in terms of races, it means within blackness there's diversity." —Thando Hopa

HB: Can you talk about working with such a star-studded cast?

TH: It was surreal working with people who I could only reach from TV screens or pages of magazines before. What I'm about to say is a little underwhelming, but when you're actually face to face with these people you realize how people are just... people. For me, what was really incredible was carrying the presence of what everyone on set has done and consolidating all that into one message. When you have those people who have done incredible things, they allow you to expand on that message because of their presence.

DT: I was just speechless. I think every time someone tries to ask me what it's like or how I felt, I still don't know the right answer. I can't explain what it was like working alongside these people because like… Whoopi Goldberg! I loved her when I was five years old. I loved watching Sister Act. These are people that I've looked up to for a very long time and like Thando said, when they're in front of you, you realize they are all just people. For me, you know Djimon [Hounsou], I love him, he's such a great actor. He was someone I almost couldn't control myself around. I was like, "Oh my gosh, you are so great!" He's so cool, calm, and collected. He's touched me and to be able to work with him is such an honor.

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Tim Walker
Diddy and Naomi Campbell as The Royal Beheaders in Pirelli\'s 2018 calendar.

HB: Did you have any other starstruck moments while shooting this?

TH: I have to be a little honest with you, I think everybody had an incredible presence, but I particularly connected with Whoopi. As a young woman who didn't have an image that was conventional, I really respected and admired how she was so bold about not having a conventional image with regards to beauty, and how she was absolutely unapologetic about it. She embraced it. For me, she kind of became a particular archetype and I told her that. It was important for me to tell her that. I cannot take away the brilliance, the importance, and the magnitude of everybody there, but in terms of connection, Whoopi is the person I connected with most.

DT: I mean, it was everyone. That's why this is so beautiful, everyone was hand-picked for their own reason and had their own special element. Everyone is so different in their own way and it is so great to be able to say I worked alongside them. Tim really made us all feel so comfortable with each other. It was such a natural environment. It was a one-in-a-billion experience. I know I'm always going to look back and think about that shoot over the four days we experienced it. We all got very close. It may have just been four days, but Thando and I were speaking on some heavy topics after shooting. It was being able to take what we were given on set and bringing it out in the real world. That for me is very memorable in itself.

"I want inclusivity to be normal. It's not just in fashion, it's being able to see representation of myself in general." —Duckie Thot

HB: What changes are you hoping to see in the fashion industry in terms of inclusivity and diversity?

DT: I want it to be normal. Growing up in Australia, I didn't understand why I didn't see a reflection of myself in anything—not even on a book cover or a magazine cover. It's not just in fashion, it's being able to see representation of myself in general. As a child, you need that. It determines quite a lot growing up. When you don't see yourself, it's almost like a piece of a puzzle is missing and you don't understand why. I was born and raised in Australia and it was quite difficult for me. I never saw representation of myself and I always felt odd. One day I want a black girl in Australia to look at a magazine and be like, "Oh!"

I still remember the day I decided I wanted to [model]. I was walking in a shopping center in Australia. I think I was 12—that was when I really wanted to be in fashion. I was in one of the biggest shopping centers in Melbourne, it has maybe four or five levels, and I went around the WHOLE thing looking for a woman that looked like me and I did not find a single woman. It made me feel like there was some sort of responsibility I had to take and something that I had to do. Even though I was young at the time, I knew it wasn't normal and I knew there was something that didn't feel right. It's understanding that there is a problem—and it's not just in Australia, don't think that at all. Diversity is a worldwide issue and it's something that the world does not want to accept. Until we start taking responsibility for it, taking charging of it, and start doing things like this [the all-black Pirelli calendar], it's not going to change. I think we took a massive step forward with the Pirelli calendar.

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Tim Walker

TH: In terms of looking different, I completely understand that. I mean, I look different from my parents and my sister. I did not look like anybody around me. Your parents will try to instill a sense of self-esteem into you and it's limited because what you're looking at in terms of television and magazines. That can make a sense of inadequacy sneak in even when you don't realize it. It's in your subconscious if you don't look a particular way. We say "this is beautiful" and this image does not look like you. Then what happens is that you start feeling the pressure to look more like that image, that image that they say is beautiful. You start doing everything possible to conform to that image, because yours isn't represented, therefore yours isn't good enough.

I decided to start modeling when I was older. I was 23. I was already a prosecutor, so when I got scouted, I said, "Look, I'll only work on projects that are impact-driven, that can bring about a change in terms of perceptions of beauty." In terms of fashion in particular, and everything that we're trying to do, I'd really like for fashion to get to a point where just because something isn't sufficiently represented, it's considered a "trend." So, "This thing is being represented and it wasn't being represented before, so it must be a trend!" That diminishes the importance of what that is. That's my issue. I think that kind of narrative needs to change.

DT: One thousand percent! I've experienced that and it's so crazy. I remember we were shooting a few weeks ago and someone was like, "You're doing a lot of work now, black is cool now!" And I was like, "Your mind is totally not in tune. You just don't get it!" I didn't even know how to respond to that because you can't see past the trend. It was very difficult for me to even react to that because I was like, I can tell you so much, but how far am I even going to get with you? That mentality, especially with people in the fashion industry, needs to change. We're here to stay. It's not a trend. People are not a trend.

TH: The issue I have with that kind of narrative is that it's almost saying "you're not supposed to be here, so you're just going to be there for a short time because you're not the standard and you're not it." That's my issue with saying something is a "trend," simply because it hasn't been represented in the media before. For you to start calling an image that people have in their every day life "a trend" only because of [it] being celebrated, then you're saying, "There's a standard and you're not it."

See more of the 2018 Pirelli calendar here.

From: AR Revista