Sharon Stone's blissful marriage with Dior may be going though a sticky patch after the ageless one's row with the company over its apology for her comments on the earthquake in China... but Louis Vuitton can't stay away from celebrities, and of the highest calibre, too.

On the heels of Gorbachev, Deneuve and Keith Richards come Coppola père et fille (search really hard and you'll find little Sofia lurking in the pampas). Obviously synchronising their schedules was a nightmare. Obviously Vuitton ended up flying her down to Argentina to the set of her father's new film. Obviously Annie Leibovitz got involved. Wouldn't it be easier to hire the latest Estonian it-model?

“We were wary of celebrities too,” says Antoine Arnaud, son of Bernard Arnaud, chief executive of LVMH. “You have to find the right one, and some are only hot for a while. But since Marc Jacobs arrived in 1997, the fashion arm of Louis Vuitton has been so successful that it may have eclipsed the core monogram products.

“We needed something special to remind people about the romance of travel. People said we were crazy to even contemplate Gorbachev or Clinton, but eventually Gorbachev said if we could put him in with the Berlin Wall we were on...”

We must admit that, here in the Times Fashion Department, we're seduced. Well she is the most stylish thing to emerge from California since, like, for ever.

Why did you agree to these ads?

Sofia Coppola: I liked the ad Annie shot with Keith Richards. It was flattering to be asked. Plus I've known Marc Jacobs since I was 18. We had mutual friends and started hanging out together. I remember asking my mom to take me to see Perry Ellis when he was designing there. I still have a box of clothes from that grunge collection somewhere. It's great to work with Annie - she did a good portfolio on the set of Marie Antoinette. She just selects one picture and then shows it to you. But I think that's good. My dad and I were both like, yeah, whatever you want, this is your shoot. On your own set you want it exactly your own way, but we can get with someone else's vision too.

How comfortable are you being photographed?

SC: Annie's used to shooting people who aren't models. On the red carpet I'm self-conscious. The best way is not to look at the camera. Here I'm just listening to my dad talking.

Does he still offer you tips?

SC: Yeah, and I'm glad for it. He always gives me great advice for writing and directing.

You have a quiet, non-confrontational manner. How do you get what you want on set?

SC: You have to be really clear and strong and stick to your guns. I think you can do that without yelling. I try to work with people I relate to. I probably learnt my tenacity from being on the set as a child when my father was shooting Apocalypse Now.

You used to design your own line of T-shirts (Milk Fed) and your three films display a love of clothing. You dressed Bill Murray in Helmut Lang, a fashionista moment. How many other designers would be so attentive to fashion details?

SC: I was very sure about the way Bill Murray's character should dress. Bill's always in T-shirts, so to see him in an elegant suit... it's fun to give people a makeover. I think all directors are control freaks. You want to make your ideal world. I work with tiny budgets, even on Marie Antoinette. Lost in Translation cost about about $4 million. I prefer it like that - there's less pressure to be commercial, and you can still do a lot.

Whose style do you admire?

SC: I love the way Tina Chow dressed. My mother was always very understated and low-key too. It's not something I deliberately cultivate but I think there are people who want to be looked at. As a writer or observer, I'm more interested in looking.

Yet you've become a style fixture in magazines.

SC: It's very nice of you to say that. I had my bad style moments when I was a teenager, like tonnes of ripped jeans. But I also interned at Chanel when I was 15 and 16. Now it's all pretty pared down. Obviously I love Marc Jacobs and Acne jeans which I wear all the time. Today I'm wearing a little knitted dress from See by Chloé, flat wedges from Louboutin. Really I should be wearing Vuitton, but I'm actually not that into status, although I have a little LV duffle bag that I travel with. Otherwise, I'm not very organised with my clothes - half are in the apartment in New York, half here in Paris [her partner is Thomas Mars, the lead singer with Phoenix].

Perhaps being brought up surrounded by brothers means you didn't have to compete for attention the way you might have in a family of women?

SC: I never thought of that, but it's true. And they were all protective of me. My brother, Roman, still helps me in my work and my little cousin, Jason, was Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette.

What are you working on now?

SC: It's early days. I took a year off after I had my daughter, Romy: now I have someone part time looking after her. I try to be disciplined about writing but it's hard. It can be isolating and there's a lot of procrastination involved.

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