While best friend Victoria Beckham is getting a lot of media coverage thanks to her latest Armani lingerie ads, Katie Holmes too is in for a slice of the spotlight. The actress is the new face of the Miu Miu line and the first shot for the spring collection has just been launched.

Celebrities have always turned to fashion for an extra buck, just like the industry has always gone to them for extra publicity and a wider spread. Katie is just the last one in a long series to do so, and she pulls it off admirably, it is already being said. Once known for her angelic looks and child-like innocent countenance, Mrs. Cruise manages to turn completely “feline” for the ads for the new collection.

Draped in a stunning Miuccia Prada's graffiti-spattered day dress, the new ad focuses more on Katie herself than on creating a specific ambience, as is the case with Victoria Beckham’s Armani shots, for instance. Shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, who also did the Posh ads, in New York in November, the Miu Miu ads aim to present Katie as a “luminous icon radiating a sense of mystery and theatricality,” Vogue magazine reports, adding that the entire campaign was heavily influenced by the films of Fellini.  

On a side note, the Miu Miu campaign is among the few endeavors Katie recently undertook that are not completely trashed by critics on the spot. After turning down the part for the female lead in the sequel to “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” Katie’s career choices have been somewhat unfortunate, one might say, her personal life also getting in the way of the public really connecting with what she was trying to do.

Her Broadway stint has, though, enjoyed critical success, in a way that the highly mediated comedy “Mad Money” did not. While the Miu Miu campaign is in no way related to Katie’s acting career, many are seeing it as the perfect way to get in the good graces of the public, by being a constant presence and, thus, becoming a person that audiences can easily relate to.