A multilayered shell model accounting for a piecewise linear (i.e. zig-zag) distribution of displacements through the laminate thickness is discussed. The model has seven unknown kinematic variables: three displacements of the middle surface, two rotations of the shell director and two displacements associated with the wrinkling of the laminate cross-sections. The initial transverse shear stress field is introduced, and the constitutive relations are then relaxed in the framework of the variational principle. Finite element solutions obtained with this kind of model are compared with the analytical solutions for the case of cylindrical shell bending.