H&M's answer to Kate

A 22-year-old Italian model has been picked to replace Kate Moss as the face of H&M.

Mariacarla Boscono, who already represents Givenchy, is the first model to pick up one of the high-profile contracts Moss lost after being filmed taking cocaine with her boyfriend Pete Doherty.

Boscono's role fronting Stella McCartney's collection for H&M was revealed last night at the launch of the range. However, Boscono was conspicuous by her absence as company bosses tried to play down her role as Moss's usurper. Stella McCartney for H&M, along with Burberry and Chanel, terminated their contracts with Moss shortly before the 31-year-old supermodel checked into the Meadows rehab clinic in Arizona.

The move was awkward for McCartney, who is a close friend of Moss's and was said to have been behind her getting the H&M contract. According to one report, Moss's sacking has prompted a cooling in relations between the women, with Moss furious that her friend failed to stick up for her.

In an attempt to play down the controversy, H&M has ditched its print advertising campaign, focusing instead on a television advertisement which will be launched on 4 November.

Boscono has starred in campaigns for French mail-order catalogue La Redoute, as well as in last year's Pirelli calendar. She was born in Rome but brought up in the US, where her parents had a shop. When she was nine the family moved to Kenya, and lived there for five years. She was discovered at 17 by a photographer friend of her parents who came to dinner.

A spokesman for H&M said: "Because of what happened with Kate Moss, we decided not to do any kind of print campaign, or to make a song and dance about her replacement for the Stella McCartney range."

McCartney's range for H&M is due to hit the shops on 10 November. She said: "It's really important for me to get my designs out on to the high street. It makes everything I do so much more accessible. People on the street are the ones who take fashion onwards. I'm always watching trends on the street, so I'm really touched to hear that people are planning to camp out on the street overnight to buy my stuff.

"We'll have to make sure we get the supplies in so they don't all get hungry out there," she joked.

At last night's launch party at St Olave's in London Bridge, McCartney's friend Gwyneth Paltrow - rumoured to be pregnant with her second child - celebrated alongside Stella's sister Mary, Jodie Kidd, Patsy Kensit, Hilary Duff, Jasmine Guinness, Louise Redknapp, Camilla Fayed, Peaches Geldof and Tamara Beckwith.