Fashion

8:41 AM PT -- A rep for Versace tells TMZ the company strongly believes in equal opportunity as an employer and a retailer. They add ... "We do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, national origin or any other characteristic protected by our civil rights laws." Versace denies the allegations in the suit.

Versace secretly alerts staffers when an African-American person enters the store ... according to an ex-employee who claims the company also dissed his fashion sense and then canned him.

The man worked in a Bay Area store, and in a lawsuit says a manager told him about a store code called "D410," which was used to casually let co-workers know a black person was present -- as in, we got a D410 in menswear.

BTW ... that's the code for all black shirts in Versace stores ... according to the suit.

The employee says he shocked the manager by responding, "You know that I'm African-American?"

He says after that revelation they refused to give him rest breaks, and fired him after just 2 weeks. In the suit, he says he was told he was canned because he hadn't "lived the luxury life."

Translation: you got no swag, son.

Jennifer Lopez and Drake are sharing tongue these days ...

Jennifer rocked new custom Timberland boots during late Christmas shopping in Bev Hills ... with her famous moniker taking up prime real estate.

It's interesting she's decided to wear them only days after we reported J Lo and Drake -- a noted Timberland fanatic -- have been spending quality time together.

#SignsSignsEverywhereASign

Blac Chyna is in talks with Adidas to land her own shoe deal ... but we're told if the apparel giant wants a piece of BC, they've gotta pony up a lot more than what's on the table.

Sources close to Chyna tell TMZ Adidas has offered her a two-shoe contract, with an option for a third. As for the price ... we're told Adidas is only willing to pay $250k ... and Chyna's insulted.

Our sources say in addition to the shoes, Adidas wants Chyna to appear at media events and wear the athletic gear out in public.

We're told her attorney, Walter Mosley, has been back and forth in negotiations -- and both sides think an agreement will be struck.

Justin Bieber wants it known -- he's a real man ... who wears real fur.

We got the Biebs at Hyde in WeHo Monday night, where he was at the Shots Studios Xmas party with his ex, Hailey Baldwin. As he makes his way out, he throws on an oversized fur -- and the question is simple ... is it real?

Watch -- Justin makes no bones about it, and even goes out of his way to confirm ... he's a fashionable fella without a conscience.

Breaking news ... Cam Newton found a tie!

After the infamous "dress code violation" that landed him on the bench earlier this month, the Carolina Panthers QB arrived to FedExField in Maryland to play the Redskins in a hat that screams ... "What??"

Panthers coach Ron Rivera hasn't seemed to mind Cam's crazy hats before ... so this one shouldn't be a problem.

... as long as he's rockin' that necktie.

Calvin Klein is not partisan when it comes to dressing first ladies ... he's down with doing up Melania.

The 74-year-old was leaving Catch Friday night when he scoffed at our photog for even asking the question. It seemed fair enough ... Klein's a big Democrat who's dressed Michelle Obama, so you gotta wonder if Trump's his style.

Kenny Smith says his good friend, Craig Sager, gave him marching orders for his funeral in case he lost his battle with cancer ... wanting anyone who showed up to dress as colorful as Sager did.

We talked to Kenny ... who worked with Craig for years as part of the TNT basketball crew ... and asked him if there was any specific way Sager wanted the crowd to look at his homegoing.

"He told us to dress loudly."

Of course, Sager was known for his crazy suit game (and his professionalism and dignity), so the fact that he wanted his service to look a little lively is no surprise at all.

You gotta hear Kenny talk about it though ... clear how much love he had for the guy.

Sarah Jessica Parker's shoe store opening in Washington D.C. could've doubled as a lost scene from "Sex and The City" cuz there were enough heels to rival Carrie Bradshaw's collection.

Sarah got to work on her hands and knees at Thursday's opening. Sure, it might've been a little more Al Bundy, since Carrie was always the one buying, but seems like SJP drove a hard bargain from the customers' reactions on the way out.

GQ had its Men of the Year party in L.A. Thursday night ... but it was the women there who really drew stares.

The shindig went down at the Chateau Marmont in WeHo, where Hollywood's finest showed up in full force ... especially its loveliest ladies. Among them were Charlotte McKinney, Karrueche Tran, Christina Milian, Keke Palmer, and other beautiful dames.

Ashley Graham loved watching the Victoria's Secret Angels do their thing in Paris, but she says she'd love joining them on the runway even more ... and expects to soon.

We got Ashley in Studio City, where she's promoting the current season of "America's Next Top Model" -- she's a judge -- and she said plus-size models deserve a spot in the VS lineup -- especially since they're coming up big everywhere else.

She even shouts out the brawn model movement ... 'cause big men need love too.

Tony Gonzalez isn't buying Cam Newton's missing shirt excuse ... telling TMZ Sports Newton's tie-less controversy had less to do with wardrobe and more do with plain old entitlement.

We got Gonzalez out at LAX and asked him what he thought of TieGate ... Cam Newton being benched for the start of last week's game for not abiding by team wardrobe rules.

Newton said it was a simple mix-up -- he didn't pack another shirt -- but it's clear Gonzalez thinks it's deeper than that ... saying Newton was trying to put one over on his team and organization.

If you thought Bella Hadid looked awesome at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, you're right -- but it gets even better without all the fancy lingerie.

Hadid is featured on the cover of PAPER Mag's Outspoken issue, and to say she looks comfortable flaunting just about everything would be an understatement.

Big mistake, The Weeknd. Huge.

Gigi Hadid and a bunch of other best dressed celebs cleaned up real nice for an award/fashion show in London.

They were all out Monday night for The Fashion Awards (yeah, that's a thing) -- Lady Gaga, Karlie Kloss and Kate Moss were all done up ... along with Nicole Scherzinger, who showed up in the bare minimum.

Gigi gave a heartfelt acceptance speech after winning International Model of the Year ... and got the waterworks started in the middle of it.

Jennifer Aniston is either a returnaholic or her stylist committed a major faux pas sending the celeb to her NYC movie premiere with her jacket's retail tags waving ... "HELLO!"

We're banking on the latter, but either way ... looks like Jen was trying to shed the pricey cover up as she walked into the "Office Christmas Party" event Monday night. Her assistant better have a tight grip on it this morning though.

Here it is ... the moment Panthers head coach Ron Rivera confronted Cam Newton about his dress code violation before the team trip to Seattle ... and TMZ Sports has the video.

It all went down on Saturday at the bay area hotel where the team had been staying since playing the Raiders in Oakland the previous weekend.

After the players and coaches had boarded their buses to go to the airport to head to Seattle to play the Seahawks ... Rivera got off his bus, went to Cam's bus, and pulled Cam off for a 1 on 1 convo.

We're told this was the moment Rivera confronted Cam about his dress code violation -- not wearing a tie on travel day.

You can see the look on Cam's face ... he's obviously disappointed and retreats back to the bus.

Cam was benched for the first series of the game on Sunday as punishment.

After the game, Cam explained, "I didn't follow dress code, and Coach told me I wasn't going to start. I stand by his decision."

Britney Spears celebrated her 35th birthday with roughly 20 thousand people Friday night, and revamped an old 'do for the occasion.

Spears performed at KIIS FM's Jingle Ball in L.A. -- along with Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars and a bunch of other huge acts -- and her double bun hairstyle made loyal fans nostalgic for that classic, often-imitated, never duplicated "school girl in pigtails" look.

Little messier these days, but still ... cue the track!