Move over Scarlett Johansson - Mikhail Gorbachev is the new face of Louis Vuitton.

The former Soviet leader is to appear in an ad campaign for the French luxury label, along with tennis stars Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi and veteran French actress Catherine Deneuve, the division of the LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, said in a statement today.

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.