Jennifer Lopez showes her chic, sophisticated side as the new face of Louis Vuitton. A series of photographs, that will soon be hitting billboards, show the New York actress as she has never been seen before.
"I wanted someone who was a star – sophisticated, chic, strong and really sexy – an icon," says LV design boss Marc Jacobs. "I hadn't met J-Lo before. I didn't even know that first paparazzi shot of her and Ben Affleck snogging was taken in my shop in Bleeker Street. I just knew she had all those qualities that represent the LV girl – the luxe factor, the larger-than-life presence and the real star quality."
Jen takes over from supermodel Eva Herzigova as the face of Louis Vuitton, and Marc admits he was somewhat nervous about working with the Bronx-born star.
"J-Lo and Ben stayed at the Crillon hotel and the night before the shoot, they invited us for dinner. I was really excited – a bit like a 12-year-old meeting their favourite pop idol. But I went to bed feeling really nervous. I mean, it's not like a model wearing your clothes. I guess I was just fixating on all the things that could go wrong. But I needn't have worried, she was just great, a really nice personality."
Just as work on the project was nearing completion, Marc was summoned to J-Lo's hotel by her management team. He feared a row was brewing, but as it turned out, nothing could have been further from the truth. "I was told she had issues, and that her manager wanted to talk to me. You can imagine what was going through my head – I was just expecting the worst. Then the doors opened and J-Lo and Ben were there, all my team, all my friends, all singing Happy Birthday. J-Lo organised it. She'd even got a cake with a picture of Alfred, my English bull terrier, on top. I was just in shock.
"You know, you can have ideas about what people are like. You think you know, but there's so much more to J-Lo than I could ever have imagined. And I was lucky enough to find out."
