In this election year, surely McCain versus Obama is weighing heavily on everyone's minds. But shouldn't we also be concerned about Vicky B. versus Agyness D.? Designers have been pitting celebrities against models for ad campaigns for years now. Finally, after a slough of Hollywood figureheads and endless celebrity covergirls, models are prevailing once again.

When Miu Miu made Maggie Gyllenhaal their girl for A/W 04, I was less than impressed. A year later, they debuted their A/W 05 campaign with a trio of rising starlets: Selma Blair, Evan Rachel Wood and Lou Doillon. The much more fashion-y spread was palatable. In the S/S 06 campaign season, Miu Miu went the celeb route once again with the unlikely duo of Kim Basinger and Camilla Belle. With Belle's exotic visage and Basinger's seasoned countenance, the ads were successfully stunning. So much so, that for a mere moment, Jessica Stam and Angela Lindvall were lost in a haze before my eyes.

But just for a mere moment did it last! I realized that this pattern was facilitating a complete shift I was not prepared to accept. Suddenly Hollywood-inspired photos were being hurled at me from every direction. Meg White, Winona Ryder and Dakota Fanning for Marc Jacobs. Scarlett Johansson for Louis Vuitton. Charlize Theron for Dior. Jennifer Connolly for Balenciaga. Lindsay Lohan and Kirsten Dunst for Miu Miu. The last straw, of course, was Victoria Beckham for Marc Jacobs.

No doubt, celebrities are marketable commodities. Designer fashion, after all, is driven by commercialism. For me, however, clothing means something more; Prada skirts and Missoni knits are beautiful works of art that deserve to be complemented and theatricalized by the inimitable model poise. Nicholas Ghesquiere, who chose his friend Charlotte Gainsbourg for the Balenciaga A/W 08 campaign, says of actresses as models: "They are used to playing characters and go deeper into the image. There's definitely a celebrity effect when you shoot an actress. There's a real frisson." I completely disagree. Most actresses I've seen in designer ads have not been expressive enough to capture the essence of the brand they represent. Not only do I find the starlet gaze less evocative than that of their model counterparts, but I also feel that the star factor distracts from the exquisite garments. With models, their beauty is evident, but never supercedes the fact that the clothes are the real focus.

Some fashion houses have always remained loyal to their statuesque muses. Burberry can always be expected to front their campaigns with model it-girls like Lily, Agyness and Doutzen. Chloe remains eternally faithful to favourites like Anja and Freja. Sasha is continually booked as the face of Prada. Though, the true vindication for models this campaign season is the highly anticipated return of the supers. Prada's new photos featuring Linda Evangelista have been leaked and Naomi Campbell was photographed for YSL A/W 08 this past March. So it's clear that models are leading this season's campaign race. Here's hoping that S/S 09 will send actresses back to the big screen and off of the pages of our favourite glossies.

Story by Dana Poblete.

This article is part of LA2DAY's new Saturday editorial section, We Are Not Vogue.