Gilly Hicks is a fresh new lingerie chain that claims to be from "Sydney." (It is not from Sydney! It is from Columbus, Ohio. What, do they hate America?) Either way, Gilly Hicks comes with a host of attractive promises — like a "bra library" featuring 40 styles — and from the looks of its website, it is much more likely to produce a better variety of non-padded bras. But it has some un-attractive (and allegedly racist!) backers: Abercrombie & Fitch. Also if you go to the website and watch their video you will feel kind of dirty because it is total porn.

Also if you got half of those references, uh, you're a nerd.

Victoria's Secret is "Too Sexy", Claims Chief Executive [WSJ]
Abercrombie Bets On Lingerie [WSJ]

• Now the face of Versace menswear, Patrick Dempsey has started referring to Donatella Versace as his "Italian mother." [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Model Erin O'Connor musing on the end of another fashion season: "...yes I'm howling, oh how woeful I was when the mini cab rocked up early Sunday morning to collect the regal attire, literally stripped from my back to be sent back to each designer. Kind enough to donate for the week I hear you mutter? Jees, and Cinderella thought she had it bad? Hark, where for art thou my four-door Sports Series Maseratti? Not even a pumpkin post-shows for this lowly creature, just her own two spindly legs to get her from A to B..." [Vogue UK]
  
• The Herve Leger dress that Victoria Beckham wore to the Marc Jacobs show last season is now on sale at Intermix. Er, maybe not? So many people tried to buy it online that the Intermix website crashed. [Fashionista]

• Why was this not a challenge on Project Runway this season? Clothing made from plastic bags is the new recycling. [Guardian UK]
• Alessandra Facchinetti debut collection for the Valentino label: Hitting the runway on Thursday! [FT]
• Fashion folk: Mainly computer illiterate. [IHT]
• Jeffrey Kalinsky of luxe boutique Jeffrey, is giving Nordstrom a "makeover." Jeffrey, if you have never had the distinct pleasure of being abused there, is known for its infamously bitchy salespeople. [WSJ]
• Yves Saint Laurent's Stefano Pilati wants shoppers to feel like they've been taking opium when visiting the new YSL store in Paris. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Oscar de la Renta has just inked two licensing deal for handbags and small leather goods, finding more and more ways to put a little O in your life. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Escada's got a new CEO and he's ready to whore out the company by focusing on money-making world of accessories. Didn't we just read like fifty-thousand stories on the death of the It Bag? [WWD, sub req'd]
• I will mock my boyfriend ruthlessly if he ever wears a robe like this. [Chic Report]
• Recession? What recession? Women's apparel prices areon the rise. [IHT]

• Valentino on his final collection, showing tomorrow in Paris: "It's a happy collection. It's not a collection with tears in between." Right, because then it would be a bipolar collection, and at 12 minutes or so that's a lot for any audience to take. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• And in other last-Valentino-show-ever news, the designer included a portrait of himself in the invitation to tomorrow's show and also posed for pictures with every one of the seamstresses who helped create the collection so they could each have a keepsake of him. Aw? [Fashion Week Daily]
  
• Volvo created a new ad that for release in Switzerland [Wait, Switzerland is a big enough market to warrant its very own ads? Okay. -Moe] that shows its newest hatchback model being surrounded by Karl-look-a-likes snapping its photo. The real Karl: not amused! "They think I should be flattered, perhaps. It's not the chicest car I am promoting — without knowing I did it." Snap. [WWD, 3rd item]

• Abercrombie and Fitch's new underwear line Gilly Hicks: sells "underwear, not lingerie," with products that are "more boyish than boudoir," and it fancies itself as the anti-Victoria's Secret. [WWD, sub req'd]
• St. John CEO Glenn McMahon on his outlook for the upcoming year: "[E]verybody is very nervous about 2008." Now there's a feel-good attitude we can get behind! [WWD, sub req'd]
• Ellen Pompeo: "I love to aspire to be on the worst-dressed list!" [Fashion Week Daily]
• ELLE UK appoints Chloe Sevigny as "style adviser." Oy. [Guardian]
• Project Runway alum Malan Breton: still designing! [Chic Report]
• Oh Jesus, why is Madonna doing commercials for Sunsilk hair care products? Because there's a recession on and that $100 million LiveNation contract might not be enough to scrape by? [Sassybella]
• 15-year old Russian designer Kira Plastinina on her target market: "[P]retty much girls like me. They're 14 to 25 years old. They're active, they're — I don't know, cool. Like normal teenage girls, I guess." Suddenly we feel depressed. [WWD, sub req'd]
• Fashion line Chikara was created specifically for women who have undergone surgery for breast cancer. Suddenly, we feel somewhat redeemed. [WWD, sub req'd]