What do you do if you have great looks, a successful movie career, a film to promote and a tabloid reputation for being a lonely, childless failure who can't get a man?

If you're Jennifer Aniston, you pose as your idol, Barbra Streisand, in the September issue of Harper's Bazaar.

It's an attention getter — two celebs are always better than one — without resorting to that played out, five-year-old "What Angelina did was very uncool" drama.

When up-and-coming starlets pose as iconic celebrities, it's more about establishing a persona. A regular fashion spread can make you seem edgy, twee, glamorous or earthy, but channeling someone who consumers associate with those values does so in a much more memorable way.

That's why Glamour can dress up Emma Roberts as Audrey Hepburn (elegant yet adorable) Alexis Bledel as Rosie the Riveter (classic All-American) and Lindsay Lohan as early-era Madonna (the naughty girl).

Of course, no blonde can make it long on the national radar without doing a tour of duty as Marilyn Monroe — just ask Nicole Kidman, Paris Hilton or Scarlett Johansson. But the latest ingenue encapsulate Marilyn is Lindsay Lohan. She cemented her ownership of the blonde brand with a 2008 New York magazine photo shoot with Bert Stern recreating the iconic images of Monroe that Stern took six weeks before her death.

While the physical similarity is impressive, most observers noted the correlation between Monroe's demise and Lohan's downward spiral. But in approximating Monroe, Lohan subverted the descriptors: Her downfall tragic, not just messy; her bare-it-all shots gorgeous, not desperate. Before Twitter, tabloids and 24-hour news, even celebrity problems were beautiful and beguiling.

Aniston as Streisand leaves behind a sexy girl-next-door look and replaces it with pumped up retro style, glamour, and just a hint of pathos. Plus it ever so subtly plays with the media image of her. Aniston isn't a woman who can't get a man. Like Barbra, she's a K-K-Katie girl: Independent and unbroken, not sad.

Voilà, one image update — no fake relationship, adoption or press conference required.