SIENNA’S NEW JEANS: Pepe Jeans London is the first fashion brand to sign British actress Sienna Miller to front its advertising campaigns. Miller, who previously was rumored to have been in advertising negotiations with Burberry and Cesare Paciotti, will make her debut in the Madrid-based company’s spring campaign, and is contracted to the brand through spring 2008.
“We wanted a strong, positive, female British figure to head the advertising campaign, and strongly believe the choice of Sienna Miller was the right one,” said Carlos Ortega, managing director of Pepe, in a statement.
The spring campaign, which breaks in March, was shot by Mikael Jansson and styled by Karl Templer. The shoot features Miller and a male model on location in Paradise Cove, Calif., and took its inspiration from Brigitte Bardot in “And God Created Woman.”
ACE OF CLUBS: While Valentino loves entertaining at his magnificent Chateau de Wideville outside of Paris, the designer also steps out on the town once in a while. To wit: Come couture week, he’ll host a fete after his show Jan. 24 at the Ritz Club for select clients and press. The abbreviated week — actually, three days — promises to be chockablock with events, including boutique-opening celebrations for Marc Jacobs and Chloé, along with the annual AIDS benefit Sidaction.
NEMCOVA’S RETURN TO THE SPOTLIGHT: The world became personally acquainted with Petra Nemcova after the Czech model narrowly escaped the tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 lives, including that of her boyfriend, photographer Simon Atlee, in December 2004. Now, Nemcova is back to work and appearing in the spring 2006 Rampage advertising campaign, shot by photographer Gilles Bensimon in the Florida Keys. The ads, slated to hit March issues of glossies such as Elle, In Style, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Seventeen, show Nemcova in various looks from the contemporary brand’s spring collection, including swimwear and innerwear. Iconix Brand Fashion Group, Rampage’s parent company, also has started The Rampage Relief Fund, a private fund committed to facilitating global aid and relief to individuals and communities in despair. The fund’s first initiative is donating $40,000 to Nemcova’s charity, The Happy Heart Fund, which raises money to help rebuild schools and provide grief counseling to the victims of the tsunami. The ad campaign is Nemcova’s first endorsement deal since the tsunami.