Mikhail Gorbachev: The New Face of Louis Vuitton

[Love,]

:w00t:

 

Gorbachev is new face of Louis Vuitton

 

PARIS, France (AP) -- Move over Scarlett Johansson! Mikhail Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton.

art.gorbachev.vuitton.ap.jpg

 

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sits next to a full Louis Vuitton bag in new ad campaign.

 

The former Soviet leader is to appear in an ad campaign for the French luxury label, along with Steffi Graf and her husband, Andre Agassi, and Catherine Deneuve, said a statement Thursday from Vuitton, a division of the LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.

 

Shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz, the ads focus on travel -- a "core value" for the company that started in 1854 as a trunk-maker, the statement said.

 

Gorbachev is featured in a car, a Vuitton bag at his side and the Berlin Wall in the background. Graf and Agassi are shown snuggling in a hotel room bed. A vampy Deneuve sits perched on a Vuitton suitcase in a foggy train station -- or is it a movie set?

 

Vuitton said it was making donations to former Vice President Al Gore's The Climate Project to fight global warming and Green Cross International, founded by Gorbachev to promote sustained development. The company didn't disclose the amount of the donations.

 

The campaign -- which is to run alongside more traditional fashion ads that in past seasons have featured Johansson -- will appear in magazines in September, the statement said.

 

In this undated image released by Louis Vuitton SA on Thursday Aug. 2, 2007, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sits in a car, a Vuitton bag at his side and the Berlin Wall in the background as he appears in an ad campaign for the French luxury label Louis Vuitton. The ads, also featuring tennis stars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi and veteran French actress Catherine Deneuve, focus on travel, a 'core value' for the company which started in 1854 as a trunk-maker, the company said in a statement Thursday. (AP Photo/Annie Leibovitz, Louis Vuitton, HO)

 

In this picture released by Louis Vuitton SA Thursday Aug. 2, 2007 veteran French actress Catherine Deneuve sits perched on a Vuitton suitcase on the platform of a foggy train station. Deneuve is to appear in an ad campaign for the French luxury label, along with tennis stars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , the division of the LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, said in a statement Thursday. (AP Photo/Annie Leibovitz, HO)

 

In this picture released by Louis Vuitton SA, Thursday Aug. 2, 2007 tennis stars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi are shown embracing in a hotel room bedroom. Graf and Agassi, along with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and veteran French actress Catherine Deneuve are to appear in an ad campaign for the French luxury label, the division of the LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, said in a statement Thursday. (AP Photo/Annie Leibovitz, HO)

 

 

Sources: Associate Press and Yahoo! News

[Céline's Blues]

I heard Whitney was supposed to be the one... Evidently she smoked away her limousine on the way to the negotiations. Edited August 6, 2007 at 11:43 AM by Céline's Blues

[Tal]

Catherine Deneuve's picture is goooorgeous!

[Cheerfuljane]

I thought YOU were gonna be the next face of LV Sopha???