Banned Skinny Model Once Saw Another Model 'Faint Through Lack Of Food'

The Daily Mail identified the model whose “socially irresponsible” swimsuit photos were recently banned by the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority as 21-year-old Scottish model Amanda Hendrick. Hendrick, who has been working as a model since she was 14, had a pretty great spring-summer runway season: she walked for Balenciaga, Jean Paul Gaultier, Costume National, Temperley London, and Paul Smith, among others. She once said in an interview, “I still do sometimes think that I would be better off going to college and just getting a wee job somewhere…In Milan I would spend about 10 hours a day just running from casting to casting without getting a break.” And models are under plenty of pressure to stay thin. “I remember going to one casting where a girl fainted through lack of food. Another girl I lived with out there for a while obsessed about food all the time.” [Daily Mail]

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Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino is suing Abercrombie & Fitch for damaging his image and infringing on his trademarks — and he’s seeking damages of $4 million. Judging, correctly, that Abercrombie’s little “open letter” stunt of a few months back, in which the clothing company pleaded for Sorrentino to stop wearing its clothing because he was damaging their brand image, was actually just a big P.R. ploy intended to distract the press from Abercrombie’s disappointing quarterly results, Sorrentino’s lawyers are arguing that Abercrombie essentially made the reality star the unwitting and uncompensated star of an ad campaign. [NYDN]
In other news of Jersey Shore “stars” and their legal business, Snooki is suing to get out of a contract she signed with a company that wanted to manage her “brand,” because the deal is apparently not as lucrative as she had hoped (or, allegedly, been promised). What, you mean the pickle flip-flops aren’t a hot seller? [NYPost]

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Versace’s collection for H&M is now on sale. As is to be expected, there were long lines. Donatella Versace put in a store appearance in London, and in Shanghai, people paid others to wait in the line for them. Many people openly admitted to buying pieces to re-sell online. [WWD]
And in the U.K., where H&M has e-commerce (unlike in the U.S.), traffic crashed the site. [Fashionista]

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At a benefit for the Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, Coco Rocha took the stage and promised to do an Irish jig if attendees made donations. She raised $35,000 in one minute, took off her heels, and made good on the offer. There are no photos of the dance online, but here’s a video of Rocha — who was an Irish dancer before she became a model — doing a jig on Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway. [P6]

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Rejoice, every woman who loves Costello Tagliapietra’s gorgeous draped aesthetic, but can’t afford to buy them: the designers are launching a second line this spring, which comprises 13 dresses. They still cost $298, but if you could get one on sale, that would almost be affordable. “This is almost like a love letter to all the women we worked with who couldn’t afford what equates to rent on a dress,” says Robert Tagliapietra. The line, called C&T, will go on sale first at Barneys New York Co-Op in March, before expanding into other department and specialty stores. [WWD]

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If you’re not yet sick of the Victoria’s Secret show, Victoria’s Secret show diets, Victoria’s Secret show backstage photographs, Victoria’s Secret show runway photos, and everything else Victoria’s Secret-related that has eaten up the fashion pages since the show taped on November 9, you could watch this video where Victoria’s Secret models deliver factoids like, “There’s 4,000 linear feet of truss” and “Approximately 300 pounds of glitter will be sprinkled down the runway.” [Fashionista]

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Here are Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin posing for M.A.C.’s Viva Glam lipstick. [Fashionista]

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Women’s Wear Daily made Silvio Berlusconi its Man of the Week. The noted bunga-bunga fan and activist for women’s rights rates only a C. WWD says the former Prime Minister’s “home hair treatments need to stop” because they “make him look ridiculous.” And it suggests he skip the orange self-tanner. “Spring for a good photofacial” instead. [WWD]

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• Oh, no: the lovely, indie label Vena Cava is on the verge of going out of business, according to “sources” close to the company. Designed by Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, who founded the line in 2003, Vena Cava is said to have been negotiating a deal with an investor when the potential backer backed out. Vena Cava didn’t hold a fashion show for spring, preferring instead to shoot its seasonal collection on Maggie Gyllenhaal and circulate the photos to the press. If it doesn’t find a new source of capital, it’s said to be very likely the company will go bankrupt. [WWD]
• Obviously and predictably, the Vatican is angry about Benetton’s new “Unhate” ad campaign, which shows unlikely pairings of world leaders makin’ out. One ad features the Pope and an Egyptian imam, and the Vatican calls it disrespectful to the Pope and all Catholics. [Telegraph]
• Chloe Moretz says that although she has been featured in fashion magazines and even on covers, she would turn down a fashion campaign. “Here’s the thing: I’m 14, and I think if I do a campaign now, I wouldn’t have any time when I’m older to do anything else. If I do it at 14, what am I going to do when I’m 19 or 20? I have to give myself room to spread my wings and grow up and become a young woman…I don’t want to use it all up at one point. I want to really try and make the most of it and ride my wave as much as I can.” [The Cut]
• Tamara Mellon’s departure from Jimmy Choo was so unexpected, according to the Telegraph, “Her staff had no inkling and are still trying to fathom what happened — and how they’ll replace her.” [Telegraph]
• Target’s same-store sales rose by 4.3% during the quarter just ended, and overall sales rose 3.4%, to $16.1 billion, compared with the same period one year ago — no doubt thanks in part to the Missoni collection, which sold out virtually instantly online and in stores. As for the traffic on the launch day which crashed the retailer’s website, Target says it is “implementing hundreds of fixes to the site” to prevent any reoccurrence. [WWD]
• If a man tries to sell you a fringed plastic skirt, size zero, all fell-off-the-back-of-a-truck-style anytime in the next few weeks, don’t fall for it! Marc Jacobs sent an email to British editors canceling a press day because samples from Jacobs’ spring-summer 2012 collection — which hasn’t been produced yet, and the samples are in demand among magazines that are preparing their spring issues — were stolen in transit from Paris to London. [Telegraph]
• Women’s Wear Daily: “Details could not be learned, and the incident is under investigation, but it is understood that thieves made off with some ready-to-wear and accessories, but not the entire assortment from Jacobs’ various collections, which include his main line Marc by Marc Jacobs. Jacobs is said to have duplicates for many of the looks.” [WWD]
• Apparently this is kind of a thing: @dkny Tweeted, “AWFUL. We had about 60 pieces stolen last prefall too.” [WSJ]
• Bottega Veneta is releasing a holiday CD. [WWD]
• Niki Taylor gave birth to a son. The 90s supermodel and her husband named him Rex Harrison. [People]
• Arizona Muse is on the cover of December’s Vogue Russia. [DS]
• An intriguing article in New York asks the question, Where are all the plus-size male models? Most of the modeling agents interviewed for the piece admit they’ve never really thought about it. There are a handful of big-and-tall models, but no male models with, you know, love handles. [The Cut]
• Hm. This URL that we seem to have clicked on while drunk and/or hungover contains the words “stodden-style-courtney-dishes-on-her-favorite-looks.” Let’s just not go there. Nope, not even going to link. Once we close the tab it will be as if it was never even there.
• Salvatore Ferragamo is now listed on the Milan stock exchange. The company floated about 25% of its stock, in a deal worth $520.4 million. The largely family-run company says it began planning for the IPO eight years ago. [WWD]
• The U.K. is cracking down on the use of unpaid interns, especially in the fashion industry. Such internships violate English minimum-wage laws. Urban Outfitters apparently offers unpaid internships of nine months’ duration, while Topshop offers month-long unpaid internships, but stresses that interns don’t actually do any work. [Guardian]
• A possible solution for the contretemps over next spring’s show dates is at hand — assuming Milan and Paris agree to it. The Council of Fashion Designers of America is apparently offering to move New York fashion week back by a week next September to avoid clashing with Milan — “but,” says WWD, “as part of the gesture and for New York and London to commit to it, Milan and Paris are being asked to agree to the second-Thursday rule for the long term.” That would mean New York fashion week would start on September 6 next year, just two days after Labor Day. So, no different from usual, then. [WWD]
• And now, a moment with Donatella Versace. Donatella, have you ever thought about watering it down?
• “Not a word I understand. I’ve never used that word in my life.”
• [NYTimes]