Former Chanel model and Parisienne par excellence Inès de la Fressange is putting the Paris back in L’Oréal with a new partnership announced March 30.

Paradoxically for a youth-obsessed industry, 53-year-old Fressange has rejuvenated fashion brands such as Roger Vivier, but L’Oréal hopes for the La Parisienne author to exude “timeless French chic” as ambassadress for the brand.

On Janaury 13, L’Oréal Paris announced the latest star to appear in ads for the cosmetic giant: No Doubt front woman Gwen Stefani.

“I can’t believe I get to be one of the L’Oréal Paris girls,” the singer told US-based celebrity magazine People.

“I love playing dress up, on stage or shooting videos, it’s always been one of my favorite parts of being in a band.”

From Christy Turlington to Natalie Portman, here are five of the most anticipated beauty campaigns for 2011.

Natalie Portman for Dior: The American actress has been making headlines everywhere lately for her performance in Black Swan.

On Wednesday, Portman nabbed yet another leading role when Dior named her the new face of Miss Dior Chérie, one of the brand’s iconic fragrances.

German actress Diane Kruger has been signed to beauty giant L’Oréal amid a trend of Hollywood stars representing leading beauty brands.

The move comes after a series of announcements including Lancôme signing Julia Roberts and Helena Rubinstein tapping Demi Moore as the faces for their beauty ads.

L’Oréal previously appointed Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto as one of its global brand ambassadors, an evident move towards more ethnic diversity.

Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of Eugene Schueller, the man who founded cosmetics giant L’Oréal, tops Forbes’ just-released list of the richest women in Europe with a fortune of $22.9 billion.

That also makes her the world’s richest woman and the 17th richest person on earth, according to Forbes. She is also the second richest person in France, after Bernard Arnault who has an estimated wealth of $26.0 billion.

Following Bettencourt on Europe’s female rich list is a Swedish citizen Birgit Rausing, a packaging heiress with an estimated fortune of $14 billion, while No. 3 is BMW and pharmaceuticals heiress Susanne Klatten, with $13.2 billion.