Photographs of Victoria Beckham clad only in a bra and knickers and heels have been unveiled in a new advertising campaign for Emporio Armani.

Looks like Madonna’s Louis Vuitton ads have some competition.

Victoria Beckham models for the Emporio Armani Underwear Spring/summer 2009 campaign, which was again shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. (Her husband David shot the men’s version of the Emporio Armani underwear line.)

The 34-year-old former Spice Girl has said, “It’s an honor to have been selected by Mr. Armani to represent the Emporio Armani Underwear brand and to execute his vision with the incredibly talented team of Mert & Marcus.”

Posh is locked into a three-year deal, for which, according to the Daily Mail, she was paid $24 million. Billboards, magazines, blogs — Posh’s six-pack is about to be all over them until 2012.

Giorgio Armani has unveiled his vision for his latest store: « Massive » can’t even begin to describe the 43,000 square-foot space that will house all of the designer’s collections - from the mainline Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani ranges to Armani Casa and Armani Jeans.

Set along New York’s trend setting Fifth Avenue, the space, which formerly housed Hugo Boss, will give its customers a “total experience” that will include an in –house restaurant.

Armani himself was actively involved in the design, which was realised by architects Doriana and Massimilano Fukas – the creative minds behind the brand’s Chater House and Ginza Tower concept stores in Hong Kong and Tokyo respectively.

Giorgio Armani explored a merger with French luxury group Hermes but without success, the Italian designer told Bloomberg, adding he planned to keep control of his fashion empire as long as he stays healthy.

Mr. Armani, who is in his 70s and one of Milan’s long-established names, was quoted in an interview with the news agency as saying a merger with Hermes would have united the companies’ strengths in clothes and accessories.

“(A deal) could have been something fantastic,” Mr. Armani said in the interview published on Friday. “Hermes has such class, such prestige.”

Twenty years have passed since Giorgio Armani launched his first line of eyewear. In order to celebrate this event Armani Eyewear is releasing an updated and limited version of one of their original styles and placed it inside a palladium frame with green lenses. the Italian designer has meaningfully called them the Anniversary Exclusive Edition.

Each pair is engraved with its edition number of 0001 – 1000 on the inside by the temple and comes in a specially marked “Anniversary Editon” Neiman Marcus case. $1000

Colombian designer Miguel Caballero has developed a range of clothing tagged “high-security fashion”, which incorporates an ultra-lightweight bullet-proof fabric that is virtually indistinguishable from regular designer clothing.

A $12,000 anti-ballistic polo shirt has been developed as part of his “Black Collection” line and is available now from Harrod’s of London.

The polo-shirt is able to resist bullet-fire ranging from a 9mm pistol to an Uzi submachine gun, which is really impressive.