Designer Marc Jacobs has an eccentric ad designer, Juergen Teller, who likes to do things like stuff Victoria Beckham into a custom Marc Jacobs bag and insert himself, in a wig and striped sweater, into a ad with model and photographer Cindy Sherman. The Cathy Horyn story on this in the Times Style section is as long and loopy as you might expect, but if you make it almost to the end, it's hard to miss the part where Teller, wearing silver underpants and having put on an extra 15 pounds for the occasion, artistically propositions the English actress Charlotte Rampling:

"Charlotte arrived, and I was totally starting to sweat. She said, ‘Now what are we going to do?' I said, ‘I'm going to show you what I'm going to wear.' So I went into the bedroom, and I came out in these silver underpants. And she said, ‘What the hell is that?' "



At this point, as Ms. Rampling howled, Mr. Teller said, he was having grave doubts about the rest of his plan. "I was smoking my cigarette, breaking out in a sweat. I said, ‘Well, I was just thinking I could kiss you and fondle your breasts.'



"She sat down and got herself a cigarillo. She didn't say anything. The whole room was quiet for what seemed like months. I was, like, Oh my God, that is the most stupid thing I've ever said, how stupid was that? She just dragged on the cigarillo and crossed her legs, and she said: ‘O.K., let's go. I'll tell you when to stop.' I thought, Oh my God, genius. I can't believe I'm getting away with it."



Mr. Teller paused. "So that was the ad."

This scene took place in a Paris hotel suite, and the crazy part is that Rampling, a friend of Teller's, didn't want to endorse anything so probably didn't even get paid. Hopefully she at least got some shoes out of it.