Aguilera Scores with Skechers Deal

By Rachel F. Elson

Wednesday August 27, 2003 01:00 PM EDT

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Christina Aguilera is on tour with Britney Spears's ex-boyfriend -- and now the pop star has her former footwear endorsement as well.

Aguilera has signed on to an 18-month deal in which she will hawk Skechers's female footwear lines and accessories, according to the Associated Press. An advertising campaign will hit women's, teen and pop culture magazines in October -- just as Aguilera and Justin Timberlake begin the European leg of their Justified & Stripped world tour.

Though the 22-year-old singer has been reviled in the press for her fashion mishaps, a current Versace campaign has already upped her couture cachet. The Skechers ads -- slated to run through December 2004 -- feature Aguilera both on her own and surrounded by male models wearing the Skechers men's line.

"I agreed to be a part of Skechers international marketing team because I like its image -- youthful but edgy," Aguilera said in a statement. "They have attitude and are willing to try new ideas."

Spears and the footwear company parted ways painfully almost a year ago, AP noted, when she filed a $1.5 million lawsuit claiming the company had underpaid her and was misusing her image to sell non-Britney-branded roller skates instead of her own signature styles. Skechers soon fought back with a $10 million countersuit against Spears and her marketing companies, accusing them of fraud and breach of contract. The parties settled in May; terms were not disclosed.