The occasion of a celebrities' fetching offspring being cast to shill for a fashion line is rarely noteworthy, but Lord & Taylor's newest campaign seems to be a unique sort of pandering. In October, the 181-year-old company will unveil its new ad campaign, plastering the likeness of a Hearst, a McEnroe, and an Eastwood throughout the major fashion rags in hopes of revamping its staid image.

Lord & Taylor spent $10 million on the spreads, which is headed up by David Lipman, famous for his work with Burberry and Zegna. The employment of Lydia Hearst (Patty Hearst's daughter), Sean McEnroe (child of John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal), and Scott Reeves (son of Clint Eastwood) as models gives the distinct whiff of desperation from a brand in the awkward position of wanting to shed its title of the country's oldest department store in hopes of reinvigorating sales. After store closings and slumping sales, Lord & Taylor was bought by NDRC Equity Partners LLC last year, and has since quietly changed 85 percent of the merchandise to new labels. Finally ready to make the renovations public, the company is going all out with new ads, a glorified logo, and modernized store décor.

Though it's hard to avoid hearing the typical celeb-kid backlash that comes with not knowing what title to use for multi, um, talented youth (in Hearst's case, model/socialite/designer), the three are, in fairness, all working models. (Isn't that part of what we look for from our stars? Beautiful babies our children's children can ogle?) Lydia's modeled for Prada, Clinique, and MAC, and was named one of People's "50 Most Beautiful" in 2004, but at only five feet, six inches perhaps it was her surname that gave her the lift she needed. Sean, too, is mini, though this campaign could well springboard the 19-year-old model to face-brand status. Clint Eastwood's son Scott hasn't hesitated to use his father's connections either, landing his first role in Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers before being recruited by the 5th Avenue mainstay.

The use of a celebrity bloodline is appropriate in the case of Lord & Taylor. Aiming to appeal to youth, while at the same time promoting its "unapologetically classic, multi-generational" style (according to president and chief executive officer Jane Elfers), the company appears to be leveraging its future with the celebrity of the past to the effect of, in some ways, forfeiting the present. By building a brand in the likeness of those guaranteed to be boldface names in the future (if not in all cases currently), the department store just may secure a future akin to its storied past.