Exit, Angelina

There will be no more shots of Angelina Jolie or - more importantly no more of those hilarious images of Kelly Gray (Ms Gray was the face of St John for 22 years, and a former top exec of the company, her mother's knitwear line) in St John going forward. The chief executive officer Glenn McMahon said that Ms Jolie overshadowed the brand (not hard to do). “We wanted to make a clean break from actresses and steer away from blondes and cleanse the palette,” added Mr McMahon. Angelina is not blonde.

This led to hiring model Karen Elson, who was shot by photographer Greg Kadel for the spring campaign. “We needed to show a modern point of view of St. John,” McMahon said. “We have evolved.” The ads, directed by executive vice president of design George Sharp, will launch in the February issues of Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. McMahon said the print media buy is up slightly. No more cheesy ads of Ms Gray on holiday with a bevy of male models? What is the world coming to?
(Source: WWD)