Fashion

It didn't take a fashion expert to know Lupita Nyong'o's stolen "pearl" dress was fake -- since Piers Morgan claims he knew it was bogus the second he saw it on Oscar night.

We got Morgan in NYC Monday ... and he says he rubbed elbows with the Oscar winner at the Vanity Fair party, and was close enough to realize the gown was all smoke and mirrors. Watch him explain why it fooled people without his keen eye.

As for the theft of the dress originally believed to be worth over $150K ... well, he only sees one loser in all of this.

We'll hand it to Piers ... his take on the heist is entertaining, but it might be slightly off -- since it turns out Lupita attended the VF bash in a different gown ... a slinky gold number.

Who knows? Maybe this one was really blue and black.

Kelly Osbourne is out and Khloe Kardashian is in at "Fashion Police" ... maybe ... depending on how you view this clip.

It didn't take long for rumors to start flying that Khloe -- who covered Oscars red carpet fashions for E! --might fill Kelly's shoes over at 'FP.' So, Sunday at LAX a photog asked her straight up about joining Kathy Griffin and Melissa River's team.

Kris Jenner welcomed her granddaughter into the family biz ... of shameless promotion -- and North West's game is strong.

Kris was walking through Heathrow Airport in London with Kim and Kanye West's toddler over the weekend ... and had her decked out in a Yeezus tour jacket. Not to be outdone ... Grandma Jenner was wearing a pair of the new Yeezus shoes.

Bonus points to 21-month-old North for that classic Kanye-esque sneer.

Cops are flustered as to how the Lupita Nyong'o Oscar dress escaped detection when it was taken from her hotel room, but now we know ... it was thrown off her balcony.

TMZ broke the story ... the surveillance video was unhelpful. The cameras weren't trained on Lupita's door and none of the cameras on the floor showed anything suspicious.

The guy who stole the dress -- who called TMZ Friday with a road map to recovery in The London West Hollywood bathroom -- told us he knew where the cameras were placed in the hallway so he was never seen. As for the dress ... he said he threw it over the balcony and someone on the ground picked it up.

As we reported ... the thief says he took 2 of the pearls off of the dress and went down to the Garment District for appraisal, but found they were worthless fakes. That's when the thief took the dress back to the hotel.

The thief told us he knew Lupita was in the room where they took the dress and waited for the opportunity to enter ... which they did when they found the door was ajar.

By the way ... the thief also says he saw Lupita's Oscar gift bag -- valued at $125,000 which he didn't take. Looks like he chose wrong.

Cindy Crawford's stock in trade is her body and now her people are out for blood, claiming the person who posted this pic (above) severely altered it to make her look bad.

The lawyer for Cindy's photographer

-- obtained by TMZ -- threatening everyone who posted the pic with a lawsuit if they didn't take it down and apologize. The lawyer says the original pic was stolen and then doctored to make her midsection look haggard.

The lawyer included a statement from the famous photog, who says he took the pic for Marie Claire Mexico and someone stole it from him and Photoshopped it.

The letter apparently worked ... some media outlets are already complying.

Shortly after the altered pic hit the Internet, Cindy's hubby, Rande Gerber, posted the pic below, showing the real deal.

Giuliana Rancic and Kelly Osbourne's battle at "Fashion Police" is tearing down everything Joan Rivers built -- at least that's how show staffers feel ... TMZ has learned.

Sources close to the production tell us producers fear the uproar over the Zendaya joke will cause Giuliana to be more silent on the show -- because she'll be worried about further backlash.

We're told producers are worried the other show hosts will follow suit ... and it will no longer be the sassy show full of sarcastic humor that it used to be. They also wish both women had chilled after the on air apology ... because things would have blown over.

We're told Melissa Rivers is now doing everything in her power behind the scenes to keep her mom's legacy alive.

It's turning into the greatest Oscar story in years. Lupita Nyong'o's stolen Oscar dress -- which was reportedly worth between $150,000 and $10 MILLION -- appears to be all smoke and mirrors.

TMZ broke the story ... the thief called us Friday afternoon and said he took 2 of the pearls down to the Garment District in L.A. and learned they were fake. That's when he returned the dress to the hotel.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Calvin Klein's people never told them if the pearls were real or fake. We're told the only person who represented the pearls as real and valued the dress at $150K was Lupita's stylist.

A source directly connected with the Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein, Francisco Costa, put it this way to TMZ, "Did anyone ever say they were real from Calvin Klein? I always assumed everyone knew they were fake, but I guess not."

The source awesomely adds, "Do they really make dresses out of real jewels since Cleopatra died?"

With Kelly Osbourne quitting "Fashion Police" there's another celebrity making a run for her chair -- Chad Johnson ... who tells TMZ Sports he honestly believes he's the perfect guy for the job.

"Who better when it comes to fashion than me? I rarely wear labels or high-end clothing and kill it," the ex-NFL star says.

We broke the story Kelly walked from the show on Friday ... after tension had been building on the set for weeks.

One source close to Chad tells us, "He REALLY wants it."

So far, producers say they haven't made any decisions on Kelly's replacement ... but hey, stranger things have happened.

Lupita Nyong'o's Oscar gown was returned to The London West Hollywood Friday afternoon where it was taken 2 days earlier ... and the thief called TMZ to tell us where it could be found and added it was a worthless fake.

A guy called us at around 2:30 PM Friday and said he had taken the dress from Lupita's hotel room after he noticed the door was ajar. He said he and others took 2 pearls off of the dress and took them to the garment district in downtown L.A. ... where they were told they weren't real.

The thief says he decided to take the dress back to the London in a garment bag that was inside a trash bag that he deposited in a 2nd floor bathroom adjacent to a fitness center.

We contacted the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. and gave them the info. They went over to the hotel and retrieved the bag and they found a garment bag with the dress inside.

Law enforcement says they were told the Calvin Klein dress was worth $150K, but the thief says it's almost worthless.

The thief told us he returned the bag and called us because he wanted the world to know "Hollywood's fake bulls**t."

Kelly Osbourne quit "Fashion Police" ... TMZ has learned.

Multiple sources connected with the show tell us ... producers and Kelly were at odds even before the Giuliana Rancic showdown, where Kelly threatened to quit unless Giuliana apologized over her comments about Zendaya on the red carpet at the Oscars.

We're told the tension started over the first episode the cast taped without Joan Rivers. Kelly was unhappy with the way the show was being produced. Producers, we're told, were "up to here" with Kelly so the handwriting was on the wall.

Sources tells us Kelly walked Friday.

Zendaya Coleman is locks free, but not 'cause she felt bullied by Giuliana Rancic ... it's because they're too damn tight.

The Disney star was in Hollywood Thursday night, walking arm in arm with her dad (who has locks), when a photog asked if she's still pissed at Giuliana for jumping to conclusions about her follicle choices on the Oscars red carpet.

The now-famous $150,000 dress that was stolen from Lupita Nyong'o's West Hollywood hotel room is no closer to being found because TMZ has learned the surveillance video is a bust.

Law enforcement sources tell us detectives have reviewed video from The London West Hollywood and it shows nothing leading them to the thief.

A big problem ... the security cameras in the hotel are spotty and there was nothing trained on the area surrounding the door of Lupita's room.

One source put it this way ... "If Ray Rice did what he did at The London, he would have gotten away with it."

Cops are stumped as to how the dress was taken. One source says it was too "long and stiff" to wear with something over it. It could have been placed in a hamper or a bag ... they just don't know.

They also don't know if it was an inside job or if someone who had access to Lupita's room stole it.

What they do know is this ... it's definitely gone.

A photog got Lupita at JFK airport early Friday, but she was mum.

The company behind #TheDress has put the debate to bed -- it's blue and black -- and the hubbub has done wonders for its business ... thanks to the hashtag hysteria.

#TheDress phenomenon began after a woman posted a photo of her mother's dress for her wedding ... asking people to ID the color. From there ... EXPLOSION ... with the likes of Justin Bieber (blue and black), Kim Kardashian (white and gold), and Taylor Swift (blue and black) all weighing in.

A rep for the company that makes the dress, Roman Originals, tells TMZ the dress is blue and black, but it also comes in pink and black, white and black and red and black. There isn't a white and gold option yet ... but Roman is looking to add it to the line because of all the commotion.

As for business, Roman Originals says sales are up 347%.

And here you thought a few escaped llamas would be the weirdest thing to happen on the Internet this week.

Lupita Nyong'o's now-famous Oscar dress -- adorned in pearls -- was stolen right out of her hotel room ... TMZ has learned.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the dress was taken out of Lupita's room at The London West Hollywood. The dress is made of pearls ... 6,000 white Akoya pearls. It's valued at $150,000.

Our sources say Lupita told cops it was taken from her room sometime between 8 AM and 9 PM Wednesday ... while she was gone.

We're told there is security footage that cops are looking at that could catch the culprit right in the act.

12:00 PM PT -- Sheriff's deputies were at The London Thursday morning. We know they were in the manager's office and we're told they have looked at security footage to determine if they can ID the culprit.

One of Elizabeth Taylor's iconic jewelry pieces fetched almost $9 million in an auction -- but the buyer backed out, and now Liz's trust is suing famed auction house Christie's Inc. for screwing up the deal.

Lizzie's Taj Mahal diamond necklace -- a gift from Richard Burton -- was one of the items hawked during Christie's 2011 auction ... which took in a whopping $156,756,576. Problem is ... the guy who bid $8,818,500 for the necklace backed out because the massive heart-shaped diamond wasn't up to snuff for him.

Meanwhile, Christie's had already paid Taylor's trust for the necklace ... and when the guy backed out ... the auction house demanded the cash back. As you can imagine, they weren't in the giving mood. In fact, the Taylor trust is now suing Christie's.

According to the suit ... Christie's is holding hostage millions of dollars gained from the auction of other items -- including a Bulgari ring and a Valentino fur evening bag. The Bulgari alone sold for $2.9 million.

The Taylor trust says Christie's is strong-arming -- refusing to hand over cash from all the other items ... unless it gets back the Taj Mahal funds.

The Taylor trust wants the court to tell Christie's to go kick rocks.

A rep for Christie's says the suit "stems from Christie's seeking the return of a small portion of proceeds due to the cancelled sale of a single item from the 1,800 lot collection." The rep added they look forward to a "speedy resolution" on the matter.

Kid Rock is very proud of his otter skin jacket, not because it's warm and luxurious ... but because it's a big F-U to the animal activists ... including his ex, Pam Anderson.

Kid was at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse in New York City Tuesday night, celebrating the release of his new album, when he decided to brag about his coat ... completely unprompted.

It's clear he's very fond of the jacket -- which he had monogrammed with a ridiculous pun -- but the whole exchange seemed purposely orchestrated to irk his animal-loving former flame.

Even with Pam suddenly single, it seems the third ceremony between her and Kid will NOT be happening.