Top SA model shooting for the stars with best

MODEL Thando Hopa is set to fly the South African flag high when she appears in the prestigious Pirelli Calendar alongside international stars like Whoopi Goldberg‚ Lupita Nyong’o‚ Naomi Campbell and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.

The 28-year-old is the first black South African to feature in the calendar and recently posted an Instagram picture of herself on set of the shoot with Whoopi Goldberg.

In the picture Hopa could be seen wearing a white flowing dress and veil‚ with Goldberg to her right.

The 2018 edition of the calendar‚ which was photographed by Vogue photographer Tim Walker in London recently‚ was inspired by John Tenniel’s original illustrations for Alice in Wonderland. Hopa played the role of the Princess of Hearts.

Hopa said that it was an honour to work with icons she had grown up watching on screens.

“For me it was always about creating awareness and expanding on diversity. But to be asked to work together with icons I have always admired‚ to make a mark in the cultural development of visual storytelling‚ is an honour I cannot begin to express‚” she says.

Hopa added that the calendar was more than just a “pretty” photoshoot.

“I realised that we weren’t just taking pretty pictures of a fairytale‚ we are building legacies for generations to come‚ so they can be bolder and build stories beyond the stereotypes that bind them‚” she said.

Hopa shot to fame after being scouted by fashion designer Gert-Johan Coetzee in 2012. Over the past five years she has become an activist for people with albinism.

The shoot’s producer Jeff Delich was impressed by Hopa and said that the model’s advocacy brought “an added layer of importance” to the calendar.

The Pirelli Calendar will be launched in November.