Once upon there was a beautiful girl, who was full lipped and blonde and the face of Louis Vuitton. By the time she was 22, she’d made too many boring Woody Allen films to be interesting, but King Louis didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so he replaced her with a man.

Shot by photographer Annie Liebovitz, the ads focus on travel - a “core value” for the company which 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 her husband 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?

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

Sydney Morning Herald

The choice of Mikhail Gorbachev is amazing! Much more interesting than Scarlet Johansson (who I do like, but she’s no former Soviet Union president!).

Scarlett will continue working with Woody Allen on their third film together, set in Madrid. It is yet to be titled and will be released in 2008.

Header image thanks to Queerty.