Amy Schumer poses topless for Pirelli calendar

Comedy star Amy Schumer, who has positioned herself as an exemplar of body confidence for women heavier than traditional beauty standards, has posed nearly nude for this year's Pirelli Calendar.

"Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman," Schumer, 34, wrote on social media Monday, accompanied by a black-and-white portrait of herself sitting sideways on a stool, wearing only underwear bottoms and high-heeled sandals. She positioned her right arm strategically over her torso while holding a coffee cup. "Thank you, Annie Leibovitz!" she added, addressing the famed photographer, who shot portraits of 13 accomplished women for this 43rd edition of the Italian tire company's calendar.

"I'm a great admirer of comediennes," Leibovitz, 66, said in a statement. "The Amy Schumer portrait added some fun. It's as if she didn't get the memo saying that she could keep her clothes on."

"I've never felt more beautiful or more like myself," Schumer said at the London news conference Monday announcing the 2016 calendar. Leibovitz recalled that, "I told her my idea and asked if she'd be comfortable with it, And she said, 'Of course, I love my body.' Then the moment she picked up her coffee cup -- that was all real. No one was supposed to look like they'd tried."

Aside from the Rockville Centre-raised Schumer, the calendar includes clothed portraits of singer-poet Patti Smith, writer Fran Lebowitz, film producer Kathleen Kennedy, director Ava DuVernay, artist-musician Yoko Ono and blogger-actress Tavi Gevinson, among others, as well as a seminude photo of tennis champion Serena Williams, her back to the camera.

The calendar, published each year since 1964 with a gap from 1975 to 1983, has traditionally featured nude and topless models, as well as swimsuit and lingerie images. Leibovitz, in her one previous assignment for the calendar, shot nudes of Mark Morris dancers for the 2000 edition.