Emma Watson: Bewitched, Bothered & Burberryed

It's August, and miserably hot in New York, but for fashion followers that means one thing: some of the year's best clothes and accessories are popping up in stores. It also means fall ad campaigns are breaking, and one can only imagine the agonized deliberations behind their creation. Globally, 2009 has been an annus horribilis for luxury goods (brands saw revenues drop anywhere from 10 to 80 percent), leaving companies in a tight spot: having precious little money to spend on advertising at a time when advertising is, in fact, precious.

Burberry's solution was to go in swinging, thanks to the combined talents of a veritable fashion A Team: the company's creative director, Christopher Bailey; ace photographer Mario Testino; and a cast of handsome British lads. They shot in Westminster, on the Thames (giving them home advantage) and, to seal the deal, brought in a last-minute player with serious star power–19-year-old actress Emma Watson, of Harry Potter movie fame.

FA2L is not, in general, a fan of celebrities trying to be models (or vice versa, for that matter). However, Watson is utterly charming in these pictures, and also completely natural: she's as English as clotted cream and prettier than the industry's current cast of interchangeable, poker-faced Russian girls. (As Mark Wahlberg, aka "Marky Mark," said about another Brit, Kate Moss, "Oh, she's got freckles.") Forget the Revolutionary call, "The British are coming," because it's already too late. The British are here, and they're well ahead of the game.

www.burberry.com