A trip down memory lane for the Spring/Summer advertising campaigns

In our post post modern world it seems almost everything is derivative, but that doesn't mean that a homage done well can't fill with delight.

It is almost spooky how much model of the moment Karlie Kloss looks like Lauren Bacall in the Dior S/S 2010 ad campaign. I love the use of shadow and her perfectly coiffed hair. These pics also got me thinking of the other 2010 fashion campaigns I've spied that have tipped their hats to the past.

Super Claudia Schiffer channels Grace Kelly on the French Riviera - where she met her Prince, no less - in the latest Salvatore Ferragamo campaign.

And Karl Lagerfeld proves his mettle as a photographer as well as a designer having shot, in the streets of Buenos Aires, the latest Chanel campaign himself. If it wasn't for the brief length of the skirts and Claudia's long, long hair, this could be a romantic travel adventure in the 40s or 50s. I LOVE the first shot in the doorway (thanks Liana).

And is that Mrs Robinson or is it Carolyn Murphy getting cosy with young actor Nicholas Hoult? Lets presume the reason she is naked - apart from a wicked bouffant and a heavy lashing of black eye-liner - is because she's hoping to get lucky tonight.

This is the 2010 Tom Ford eye wear campaign and seriously, who would have thunk that the awkward little kid from About A Boy would grow up to be so darn beautiful?

And while it is a bit off topic, I feel compelled to tag this amazing post I read on Jezebel yesterday about a recent CFDA seminar on the health of fashion models. The comments by a number of the attendees are frightening, but hardly surprising. I am so happy to see 'mature' models like Claudia and Carolyn still successfully booking campaigns, but the reality is that there are thousands of girls in the industry who will never reach that stratosphere and who are forced into extreme actions to fit the modelling sample size. And unfortunately that sample size continues to shrink. In the 80s and 90s - when I first started hoarding Vogue - models were out of this world beautiful, but their weight resembled something that might be achievable for a small selection of genetically blessed adults. These days there is barely a genetically blessed child that could be that thin.

With the death of McQueen and the frightening thinnification of (mostly) teenage models, there is a lot to be sad about today. I think I need some happy time with one of my Marilyn or Audrey DVDs.