Fashion

Some good news, bad news for Serena Williams ...

The Good News -- The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has announced massive rule changes allowing athletes like Serena to wear full catsuit outfits during 2019 matches.

The Bad News -- The French Open -- where the whole catsuit drama went down -- could still ban it because the rule change doesn't apply to Grand Slams.

Remember, French Open officials created a huge controversy after they told Serena she couldn't wear her custom-made Nike compression suit ... despite the fact that it was designed to increase blood circulation in the wake of her health issues surrounding blood clots.

The ensuing outcry was LOUD -- with everyone from ex-pro tennis player Anne White to ex-Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad racing to defend Williams.

In an effort to prevent similar drama from happening ... the WTA announced in rule changes this week, "Leggings and mid-thigh-length compression shorts may be worn with or without a skirt, shorts or dress."

Translation ... catsuit's back!!!

The problem -- the rule changes only apply to WTA Tournaments ... NOT Grand Slams.

Jennifer Lopez was front and center for the world premiere of her new movie ... and, eventually, the rest of her dress caught up with her.

J Lo showed out in an extravagant pink tulle high-low gown Wednesday night in NYC for the debut of her flick, "Second Act." As you can tell, the outfit was over-the-top -- with a loooong trail of fabric she had to be mindful of as she posed for pics.

That said, would you expect anything less from Jenny? She's kinda famous for moments like this ... just sayin'. And hey, the fashion choice paid off ... folks were wowed.

As much room as Jen had out on the red carpet of the Regal Union Square Theatre to strut her stuff, she looked a bit cramped in the car with A-Rod on the way over ... where the ruffles from the dress looked like a whole other person occupying the seat next to her.

Nike has put their money behind Colin Kaepernick -- and now the man who founded the company tells TMZ Sports, he believes the QB should still be playing in the NFL.

We saw shoe legend, Phil Knight leaving Michael's restaurant in New York the other day and while he threw his support behind Colin -- he stopped short when we asked if he believed CK is being blackballed by the NFL.

"I don't know," Knight told us ... "I don't know."

80-year-old Knight still serves as Chairman Emeritus for the Swoosh -- the company that recently inked Kaepernick as the face of its "Just Do It" 30th Anniversary Campaign.

After the first Kaepernick ad dropped back in September, the brand reportedly saw a 31% boost in online sales ... so, ya gotta think Phil would be pumped about bringing Kaep back into the fold.

One more thing ... what kind of shoes does the $30 BILLION Nike founder rock out in public?

Phil says they're special "PK 80s" -- a special line of shoes created to honor Phil's 80th birthday. We're having a tough time finding the exact model and value of the shoes ... but we're working on it.

Olivia Culpo's holiday shopping outfit is giving everyone lots of ideas ... for gifts. And, other things.

The former Miss Universe looked catwalk-ready Friday, as she floated out of a Epione dermatology in Bev Hills, rocking a ridiculously hot pair of red thigh high boots.

'Tis the season for red ... and leather, apparently. Mind you, this is just her out-and-about running errands ensemble.

Olivia's holiday shopping list will NOT include a stop at a Rolex store. She's got that covered.

Amal Clooney's got her hands full ... with her bundled-up twins, their teddy bears and even a go bag for her little girl.

George's wife was flying solo Thursday morn with the couple's 1-and-a-half-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, as the trio left the Four Seasons and headed out into the chilly streets of New York City.

It is a pretty rare sighting of their kids, and we gotta say ... even toddler Clooneys look stylish wherever they go.

As we reported ... George and Amal got dressed to the nines Wednesday night to attend the United Nations Gala in New York with his parents. Amal, who is a human rights lawyer, was one of the speakers.

Remember when Drake was the biggest Kentucky Wildcats fan on the planet??

The dude's leanin' more towards Duke, now ... 'cause Drizzy's added a FULL R.J. Barrett Montverde Academy basketball uniform to his insane collection ... and he's proudly showin' it off.

We all know the 6 God has a TON of rare prep jerseys -- from John Wall to Boogie Cousins to Barrett's Duke teammate Zion Williamson.

The newest addition might leave some people scratching their heads considering Drake's a big BBN fanboy ... and Barrett's tearing it up for the Blue Devils this season.

It's especially interesting because Barrett destroyed Kentucky in his college hoops debut earlier this season with 33 points and 6 assists ... but we take it Aubrey's had some time to heal.

The only explanation here -- Drake's pride for the North outweighs his Kentucky fandom ... and considering Barrett's one of the best Canadian hoopers since Steve Nash, he's probably cool with pissing off a few 'Cats diehards.

But, the full jersey AND shorts combo, Drake??

Sheesh.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are just like you -- constantly posing for the 'Gram with their friends ... except their friends are 2 Chainz, Donatella Versace and Hailey Bieber.

The Wests were definitely holding court backstage at Versace's pop-up fashion show in NYC Sunday night, and we got this vid of them rubbing elbows and taking pics with everyone. Kim and Hailey -- who was sans her hubby, Justin Bieber -- caught up, while Ye and 2 Chainz chopped it up.

Kanye was in a great mood, not only mugging for cameras backstage, but having a blast sitting front row during the show. When one of the models dropped what looks like an earring ... Ye was Johnny-on-the-spot.

Hailey actually walked the runway, along with Gigi Hadid, Amber Valetta and Emily Ratajkowski.

Mary J. Blige, Bradley Cooper, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Lively and Ciara were just a few of the other celebs who showed up.

Point being ... tons of people striking a pose -- on AND off the runway.

Halsey's making it clear, just because she appeared in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show ... she's still pissed off about one of its execs disregard for the LGBTQ community.

The singer, who performed in the VS Show, blasted the show as it was airing Sunday night. She called out Ed Razek, the chief marketing officer for VS's parent company.

Last month in Vogue, he was asked about having transgender models in the show and said ... "No, I don't think we should. Well, why not? Because the show is a fantasy. It's a 42-minute entertainment special. That's what it is."

Halsey's IG post slammed VS for "a lack of inclusivity" ... and added she stands in solidarity with the trans community.

For his part, Razek apologized and walked back his comment, as soon as the backlash began. He said, "To be clear, we absolutely would cast a transgender model for the show."

Razek added, "We've had transgender models come to castings. And like many others, they didn't make it. But it was never about gender. I admire and respect their journey to embrace who they really are."

Halsey seems to want action, not words.

Move over, "Mob Wives" ... there's a new show getting ready to mark its territory on VH1 with ties to drug cartels.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... VH1 is done casting for its non-scripted show that will feature people whose family is closely associated with the drug trade. We're told one person who made the cut is Michael Corleone Blanco -- the son of the notorious gangster, Griselda Blanco -- aka "The Godmother of Cocaine."

If VH1 wanted a member closely associated to the cartels, look no further than Michael Corleone Blanco, whose mom was Pablo Escobar's inspiration.

For the uninitiated, Griselda -- also nicknamed "The Godmother of the Medellin Cartel" -- reigned terror in Miami during the cocaine wars of the 70s and 80s. She reportedly ordered hits on hundreds and served nearly 2 decades behind bars in the U.S. for drug trafficking and 3 murders.

Griselda -- who once allegedly plotted to kidnap JFK Jr. -- was portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie "Cocaine Godmother: The Griselda Blanco Story." She was eventually deported to Colombia and gunned down 6 years ago outside a butcher shop in Medellin.

Boosie's giving barbershop talk a whole new meaning ... saying if Hollywood's gonna jack his hairstyle, they better cough up some dough.

The rapper appeared on Raquel Harper's show "Raq Rants" on BET and said he wanted to talk about an issue important to him -- his "Boosie fade." Boosie tells us he's got his lawyers working on how to trademark the style. No joke.

He's not going after your average Joe who sports the Boosie fade. His beef is with Hollywood studios making money off his back head when their stars sport his same hairstyle. He's adamant it's similar to, say, Hollywood using a Marvin Gaye song. Studio's gotta pay up.

Nicki Minaj doesn't owe her former stylist a dime -- in fact, she paid him too much money and now she wants it back ... according to new legal docs.

Nicki's countersuing Maher Jridi, who was her stylist in 2017 and hit her with a lawsuit in October for allegedly not returning nearly $74k worth of fancy clothes. Minaj denies Jridi's allegations and is firing back some of her own, claiming she overpaid him $12,000 for stylist services and he kept the cash.

According to the docs ... Nicki has an email chain proving Jridi knew about the overpayment and agreed to return it, but never did. She's now countersuing him for the $12k plus legal fees.

Minaj is also asking the court to dismiss Jridi's original suit.

As we reported ... Maher's known for being the man behind Nicki's famous wardrobe during 2017's Paris Fashion Week.

Game recognizes game, which is why Tommy Hilfiger is declaring Ralph Lauren his MVD -- most valuable designer for 2018 -- but he also names his top models.

We got the fashion legend leaving Michael's in NYC, and with December almost here, we asked who's stood out the most in his industry this year. Ever-humble, he tried to say he wasn't the most qualified to answer. To that we say, poppycock!

Tommy relented and dropped RL's name for one particular reason. Then we moved on to who's tops, as far as models go. He gave us 2 names.

We already knew he was high on one of them, and the other ... well, not exactly a big surprise.

It's who he didn't mention that's likely to get the fashion biz buzzing.

Kate Middleton wants everyone to know Meghan Markle isn't the only Royal with impeccable style ... because Kate's doing everything she can to keep up with Meghan's public image.

Our Royal sources say Kate is attending more events than she used to, and she's paying much more attention to her looks ... we're talking wardrobe, hair, jewelry, make-up, the whole nine yards. Basically, we're told Kate wants to be more visible now that Meghan is commanding the spotlight.

As you can see, Kate has totally switched up her look ... combining Princess Diana's favorite tiara with a fancy necklace and a new gown by Alexander McQueen. This ensemble for a recent state banquet is quite different from the looks we'd gotten used to seeing Kate wear.

When she attended Prince Charles' 70th birthday party on Nov. 14, Kate wore her hair up ... showing off bare shoulder under very glitzy earrings. Again, a style we hadn't seen much. For what it's worth, Meghan also wore her hair up at that event.

Kate's been busting out some outfits from way back in the day -- she's no fool and knows that gets more coverage. Check out Kate this year in her 2012 Jenny Packham dress. All she really changed was wearing her hair down, and it still looks stunning.

Usually, she recycles a year-old jacket or two, not a dress she wore 6 years ago -- a clear sign she's trying something new.

It's interesting ... Kate's image focus comes amid reports of tension between her and Meghan, and between William and Harry. We've reached out to Kensington Palace for comment, but so far no word back.

TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie knows 90% of Americans want what he does when it comes to gun reform, but what might surprise you is he says a majority of NRA members also back his plan.

Blake was on TMZ Live Wednesday when he told us he's planning to hit up NRA leaders about his initiative to get Congress to enact universal background checks for all gun purchases. He told us the vast majority of the NRA's rank and file members support it ... so he's hoping the org gets on board with his "End Gun Violence Together" campaign.

Blake has said the Thousand Oaks bar mass shooting sparked his company's interest in taking a stand. He kicked things into high gear last week announcing on 'The Tonight Show' that TOMS will donate $5 million to several organizations working to end gun violence.

He's proudly touting, and rightfully so, the technology on toms.com that makes it simpler than ever to mail a postcard to your elected officials, demanding they back universal background checks.

Tekashi 6ix9ine has 99 problems, and one of them is allegedly pilfering a pile of money from Fashion Nova only to double cross the company on his new album, "Dummy Boy."

Tekashi's album "Dummy Boy" dropped Tuesday ... and one of the highlights is the track "MAMA," which features Nicki Minaj and Kanye West. The lyrics include, "Splish splash apple bottoms make that ass phat." It's catchy, but it has messed up a deal with Fashion Nova.

Record company sources tell us Tekashi inked a 6-figure deal with the clothing company, to include branding in his music video -- and according to the deal the lyric in question was supposed to go this way --  "Splish splash Fashion Nova make that ass phat."

Fashion Nova maybe naively believed Tekashi would deliver, so they gave him the entire amount up front. At first, it seemed things were hunky-dory, because the teaser to the track that Tekashi posted on Instagram included the Fashion Nova lyric.

Fashion Nova believed its deal with Tekashi was solid during the shooting of the music video for the song, which was derailed by a real shooting. And, check out the pic we got ... Fashion Nova is emblazoned on the screen with those phat asses.

Now we come to how Fashion Nova got screwed. The music video never got finished, and it's not going to be completed now that Tekashi is in custody. As for the song itself, when it was released the lyric was changed so the reference to Fashion Nova was deleted and replaced by Apple Bottoms.

As for why it was changed ... a source tells us Nicki Minaj was enraged because Cardi B has hooked up with Fashion Nova for a new clothing line, so she asked Tekashi to 86 the brand from the song and he obliged.

Malcolm X's SIX daughters have launched a clothing line inspired by their late father -- and now several NBA stars have reached out to help out.

We spoke with Qubilah Shabazz who says the Malcolm X Legacy clothing line was created as a "great way to commemorate my father" ... adding, "We're hoping that it will have an impact on today's youth."

Colin Kaepernick has already shown support for the brand on social media -- and now Qubilah says there are a bunch of NBA players who have also made it clear they want to help out.

"We will be doing things with numerous of NBA players in the future," Qubilah told TMZ Sports in New York City ... noting that she didn't want to reveal any names because she didn't want to spoil the surprise!

Qubilah and her sisters presented the clothing line at Harlem Fashion Week earlier this year and the response has been pretty positive so far.

The line consists of everything from hats to shirts ... even pillows with some of Malcolm's most famous quotes.