From Catherine Deneuve's elegant Louis Vuitton campaign to Jacky O'Shaughnessy's rather more revealing shots for American Apparel, there's no denying that the fashion industry is wising up to the power of older models. Today, cosmetics company Nars followed suit, hiring Charlotte Rampling, 68, as its latest face.

The actor will appear in pictures to coincide with the brand's 20th anniversary in September. Though Nars has a history of hiring models in their 40s, including Stella Tennant and the grey-haired supermodel Kristen McMenamy, Rampling is the oldest so far. She is also a style icon long adored by the fashion industry, having been shot by some of its edgiest photographers. In 1973, Rampling posed naked and smoking for Helmut Newton. In 2004, Juergen Teller shot her in crumpled bedsheets for a series of campaign shots for Marc Jacobs.

A perennial fashion reference, Rampling is often cited as an inspiration for campaigns too. Kate Moss' scene-stealing, cigarette smoking turn on the Louis Vuitton catwalk at Paris fashion week for autumn/winter 2011 was pure Rampling in The Night Porter.

In a statement released to fashion trade publication WWD, Francois Nars, the company's creative director, described Rampling as "a natural beauty that feels strong, yet relatable," adding: "Charlotte's ability of transformation is unparalleled. Whether captured in pieces of artwork, through the lens of a magazine photographer or on film and the big screen, she had an amazing power to encompass a character."

Francois Nars also celebrated "The Look" – the term used by Dirk Bogarde to describe Rampling's heavy-lidded, inscrutable stare and the name of the 2011 documentary about her life. "I remember Dirk Bogarde referencing Charlotte's 'fabled look' because of the combination of her beauty and withering gaze. This is what makes her an endlessly watchable mystery."