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Designers return to supermodels

By Rachel Dodes (The Wall Street Journal)
Updated: 2006-07-31 17:35

Italian fashion house Versace SpA is practically synonymous with celebrity ads: In 1995, Prince appeared with the word "Slave" scrawled across his face. Last year, Demi Moore lounged in a cleavage-baring halter dress; Madonna perched on a glass desk in a tight taupe shirtdress.

For fall, in a move likely to be widely watched in the fashion hothouse, Versace is planning another provocative advertising move:

using professional models.

But not just any models.

Christy Turlington, Kate Moss and Carolyn Murphy will grace the new Versace ads in September issues of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Elle, wearing minidresses, A-line coats, black leggings and patent-leather boots.

"This is a new angle for today," says Donatella Versace, creative director of the fashion house, who says she wants to draw attention to her creations, rather than to the celebrities who wear them.

Louis Vuitton, owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is also returning to supermodels, after relying on actresses Jennifer Lopez, Christina Ricci, Scarlett Johansson and Uma Thurman in recent years. Gisele Bundchen stars in its spring ad campaign; Moss, Naomi Campbell and relative newcomer Daria Werbowy appear in the fall campaign, which launches this month.

The change is also evident at Vogue, where the August cover features a pregnant Linda Evangelista, the first model to appear on the cover after 14 straight months of celebrities.

The pendulum's swing back to models reflects what some fashion marketers are calling "celebrity fatigue": A-list entertainers are so overexposed that "there is a major lack of trust," says Milton Pedraza, chief executive of the Luxury Institute, a New York consulting firm.