Luxury lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur has signed a professional dancer and actress Mónica Cruz as it’s new face and body to present the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2012 campaign, ‘Wilhelmina: Show Your True Self’.

Mónica Cruz, Penelope’s younger sister demonstrates her true self in a stylized short film set in Victorian London. A beautifully dressed Victorian lady, Cruz comes to the Clerkenwell’s House of Detention, a decommissioned prison to…make a photo session. The old, seedy looking photographer tells her that his camera will photograph her true self. He doesn’t know what he says, anyway until he dives under the camera curtain.

Agent Provocateur’s Creative Director, Sarah Shotton said: “The film is glamorous, dark and mysterious. It is set in a gothic underground space, brought alive by Mónica Cruz’s frenzied and fantastical performance. Mónica is a beautiful embodiment of the Agent Provocateur brand, knowingly sexy and empowered by her own sensuality.”

The 2, 35-minutes film was written and directed by Tim Pope, who is well known for making videos for Iggy Pop, David Bowie and The Cure.

Though the film is gothic and dark, the collection is not—it includes very feminine, “figure-defining styles,” emphasized by layering lace with ruffles.

Photos: Monica Cruz, from www.agentprovocateur.com, clickable