Affordable fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (OTC: HMRZF) beat profit and margin expectations for the second quarter of 2009, as currency swings are becoming less costly. Gross margins reached 61%, ahead of the 60.2% forecasted by analysts for the world's third largest clothing retailer. Even though some sales figures were under pressure, H&M has turned in a strong quarter and is well-positioned for the rest of the year, particularly in a tight market for consumers.

H&M's pre-tax profits increased 6.4% to $735 million for the second quarter (which ended on May 31, 2009). The mean forecast was $721 million, according to a Reuters poll. May sales were unchanged from May 2008, though a 1.4% gain was expected. Sales in stores open for at least a year dropped 9%, rather than the forecasted 8.5%. Nonetheless, the positive developments more than offset the negative.

This post is part of a series on celebrity spokespeople who ended up doing serious harm to the brands they were hired to promote, or vice versa. See how we rank the 20 top spokesperson fiascos.

The cliché of the pencil-thin model is made corporeal in the body of supermodel Kate Moss, the waif that launched a thousand brands. Among those brands tying their fortune to her size 0 sails were H&M (STO:HMB), Burberry (LON:BRBY) and Chanel.

Unfortunately, they made the same mistake many baseball owners did -- failing to ask just how their star could maintain such a remarkable body. The answer for Moss, apparently, was toot. When she was photographed in 2005 by London's Daily Mail using cocaine at a Babyshambles recording session, the fashion industry recoiled in faux revulsion.

Leading the retreat were the brands to whom she had lent her good name, the same H&M, Burberry and Chanel. Each invoked the morals clause to terminate her contract, making that a multi-million dollar line of coke.

So that was the end of Moss, right? Think again. In the fashion world, morals transgressions are so, like, yesterday. Within a year, Moss had signed new contracts with Calvin Klein and other top fashions brands. Brendan Behan, who said there is no such thing as bad publicity (except your own obituary) knew what he was talking about, at least in the fashion world.

Read the entire series