Fashion

Yes, Dress for Less -- but also ... dress comfortably for long wait times at Ross, 'cause that's what hundreds of people are experiencing across the country as the company starts to reopen its doors.

Check out all these crazy scenes from different Ross discount stores nationwide -- from Louisiana to Indiana and probably lots of other locations in between. There are MASSIVE lines out the door that wrap around the building ... and in some cases, out into the parking lot.

As one FB user noted, there doesn't appear to be a special promotional giveaway or anything that Ross has announced lately. Other than the fact that these go-to retail haunts are just now starting to let customers back in, not much else has changed. So, what gives?

Well for one ... apparently some Rosses are having major sales upon reopening, which would explain the crowds. They're already pretty cheap, and a sale is like giving stuff away. Two -- and probably more to why the lines are so long -- is that Ross has pretty strict restrictions in place for getting in ... including a limited head count, and roadblocks.

Word on the ground is that Ross has implemented plexiglass all throughout the inside, and a lot of their aisles are one-way too. Oh, and don't forget social distancing ... Ross wants people to adhere to that when they're roaming their racks. So, in short, it takes forever now.

Move over, Eric Dickerson ... another NFL legend is blasting his former team's uniforms -- this time Boomer Esiason says the Bengals jerseys suck, and he's demanding a change ASAP!!

"The one thing I will say -- going into next year -- the Bengals are going to have to redo their uniforms," Esiason said on his "Boomer and Gio" show this month. "They are just horrific. I don't like them."

Boomer -- who played for Cincy from 1984 to 1992 -- says he's held the opinion for a LONG time ... revealing he's believed the Bengals' unis have been awful for more than a decade!!

"They've just got too much stuff going on," Boomer said. "Too much orange. Too many things happening on that uniform. They need to like -- I want to say tone it down."

"It's hard to tone down tiger stripes, but you can. And, I just think that the jerseys over the last couple, 15 years just have not been all that great looking."

Esiason's solution? He says keep the "iconic" helmet -- and then just tamp everything down ... similar to the way Oklahoma State has used a black-and-orange scheme over the years.

By the way, if the jersey rant sounds familiar ... it's because just a few days ago, Dickerson laid into the Rams' new 2020 helmets for looking like "two bananas."

Other teams, like the Patriots, Falcons, Buccaneers and Colts, have redone their uniforms this offseason as well with mixed reviews ... with most NFL fans hating the redesigns.

Sorry, Rams ... Eric Dickerson hates the new uniforms just as much as the new logos -- saying Wednesday the redesigned L.A. helmets look "horrible" and "terrible."

"It looks almost like a Chargers logo," the Rams legend said on AM570's "Lunchtime with Roggin And Rodney." "It looks like two bananas is what it looks like."

ED went in on the shoulder stripes as well as the lines on the pants ... and called the whole new look straight-up "soft."

"This is football," Dickerson said. "This ain't nothing to do with surfing. This ain't nothing to do with waves. This is football. This is a man's sport. And, to me, it just looks soft."

ED added, "It don't look football. It don't look hard."

The Rams unveiled several new uniform options for the 2020 season Wednesday ... showing off new blue, grey (or as they call it, "bone") and yellow kits that they appeared to be proud as hell of.

Of course, it should come as no surprise Dickerson crapped all over that party ... considering the dude MURDERED their logo unveiling a few weeks ago.

Remember, ED famously said the new Ram looked like a penis!!

Dickerson says he's voiced his concerns to team brass ... but he says there's just nothing they're willing to do about it now.

Can you imagine being the son of the most famous athlete on the planet?!?

TMZ Sports spoke with someone who knows exactly what it's like ... and he's revealing the highs and lows of being Michael Jordan's kid.

SPOILER ALERT -- there aren't many lows.

We spoke with MJ's second son, Marcus Jordan, about growing up with His Airness ... and asked when he realized his dad was Michael freaking Jordan, the global superstar.

"So, in 8th grade, I was playing in middle school and I was number one in the state," Marcus tells us.

"Everybody was coming to our games and we were getting bigger crowds than usual and that's when it really started settling in for me."

Marcus says he started picking his dad's brain ever since ... asking for advice on becoming the G.O.A.T. at anything on and off the court.

Naturally, being MJ's son has to come with a ton of perks ... but when we asked Marcus the best parts about being a Jordan, we realized how awesome it really is.

"I grew up playing Playstation on a private jet."

Baller.

Marcus says his mom did a great job keeping the family humble and reminding them how blessed they are ... but also admits he didn't travel on a commercial flight until his junior year of high school.

Marcus says the worst part is always having to live under the assumption that people are always wanting something from him -- whether it's sneakers or a connection -- but says that one negative is outweighed by all the dopeness.

Vera Wang is apparently a 70-year-old woman trapped in a 20-something's body -- or she's a vampire -- because she doesn't look a day past 30 here, and the world is awestruck.

The fashion designer posed for a little quarantine photo shoot this week at her home in Miami, where she threw on a bright orange sports bra with a black hoodie hanging off her arms ... and some tight short-short denim cutoffs which showed off her killer legs.

Vera's midsection is also exposed, and she must have an all-access pass to the fountain of youth. She doesn't appear to have a wrinkle on her body anywhere. Mind you, she's going on 71 next month. Nice body of work to be toting around at that, or ANY age!!!

BTW, VDub does this a lot with new styles she's working on or wants to highlight ... often serving as her own model to show off what she likes. And, considering she's still got a very modelesque figure ... ya can't blame her.

We can say it, right? Some people are just blessed in the genes dept.

In fact, we noticed she's been putting on quite the fashion show at home during lockdown -- and it looks like she's had a trusty photog capturing her strutting her stuff along the way.

Joe Exotic is getting some sweet revenge as the face of a new fashion line ... because the "REVENGE" collection is already selling like hotcakes!!!

The 'Tiger King' star officially signed a deal with streetwear brand Odaingerous April 30, and his pact with the L.A.-based company is a 6-month partnership ... Odaingerous owner Odain Watson tells TMZ.

Joe's fashion line is in demand ... we're told Monday's soft launch sold out within hours and raked in more than $20,000 in online sales.

While the first wave of merch was cleaned out in a nanosecond, the full collection went up for sale Wednesday and we're told already more than 7,000 items have sold.

The collection includes joggers, hoodies, and graphic T-shirts emblazoned with Joe's name and, naturally, tiger imagery.

As we reported, Joe and his team negotiated the deal with Odaingerous over prison letters and phone calls.

The fashion line is pretty up to date ... in a sign of the times, Joe's even peddling face coverings. Savvy move.

Odaingerous honchos even flew down to Texas and outfitted the 'Tiger King' legal team and everyone on the Pardon Joe Exotic bus with fresh gear.

The fans wanted it ... and Nike listened!!

The epic "740" area code shirt Joe Burrow wore during the NFL Draft is hitting the market ... this, after Nike initially said it wouldn't see the light of day, TMZ Sports has learned.

Remember, we reached out to the Swoosh shortly after the draft to get all the info we could about Joe's look when he went #1 overall to the Bengals.

The white long-sleeved shirt featuring the outline of Ohio and his hometown's area code quickly became a fan favorite on draft night ... but unfortunately, Nike said it was a 1-of-1.

But, that's all about to change, because we're told the plan is to release the shirts on May 22 ... which is great news for fans wanting to cop Joe's look.

It's a smart idea, considering a bunch of knockoff websites made bootleg versions to get a quick buck after the draft ... but now, the legit shirts will take over.

Adele returned to social media with a bang.

Whatever she's doing during self-quarantine ... well, it's pretty spectacular, because her transformation continues, and she looks ridiculously amazing.

The singer posted the pic to memorialize her 32nd birthday, saying, "Thank you for the birthday love," adding, "I hope you're all staying safe and sane during this crazy time."

Adele went on to thank first responders, saying, "I’d like to thank all of our first responders and essential workers who are keeping us safe while risking their lives! You are truly our angels ♥️ 2020 okay bye thanks x."

Back to Adele's transformation ... she's been shedding weight since last year -- obvious from the pics we see every few months -- but her bday pic proves she's still thriving while sheltering in place.

The new-look hair and makeup, paired with a hot black mini-dress screams quarantine for the win!!!

We're guessing fans would love to hear how she's doing it through the pandemic. We could all use fitness tips these days, Adele. So, hello ... hit us up!

Designer Michael Costello's not shedding any tears over this year's canceled Met Gala, because he believes the funds raised at the pricey benefit should be going to charities now.

The former "Project Runway" star tells us there's no love lost between the famous fashion gala and him -- he's never been invited -- and he doesn't understand where all the money from the event goes.

The annual New York City gala's been around since 1948, and since 2005 it's been held the first Monday in May. That would've been tonight, but the coronavirus had a different plan.

Michael says tickets to attend go for $30-50,000 a pop ... something he suggests is both ridiculous and suspect.

He tells us even though he looks forward to what celebs and designers bring to the table every year, he'd never dish out that kind of dough to go ... and believes it should go to helping people in need instead.

That's what Costello's been doing lately. As we told you, he's converted his factory into a mask-producing operation in L.A. to benefit frontline workers.

He says he's still focused on that, and won't even check in on the virtual Met Gala going down Monday night on YouTube.

Vogue's calling it "A Moment with the Met" -- but Michael won't even give it that much time.

Channing Tatum is doing a little spring cleaning, but he's still hanging on to a pair of gold harem pants straight outta the 90s ... and MC Hammer's closet!!!

Check out these pics of the "Magic Mike" hunk taking out the trash Sunday at Jessie J's house in Los Angeles ... Channing's barefoot but rocking those funky shiny gold pants.

It's a cool homage and although we can't confirm if the pants are his or Jessie's, one thing is for certain -- it's HAMMER TIME in her crib!!!

Take that anyway ya want.

Anything to make quarantine more fun, right? Taking out the garbage is ho-hum, but when ya slip on the gold harem pants -- different vibe altogether.

Crazy pants aside, it's interesting to see Channing running errands at Jessie's place. Pretty clear the on-again, off-again couple is back on.

Michael Jordan did NOT want to sign with Nike back in the day. Not even close.

He WANTED to sign with ADIDAS IN 1984 ... but they didn't want to make him a priority.

TALK ABOUT A BILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE!!!

MJ explained the whole thing in episode 5 of "The Last Dance" ... admitting his mom FORCED him get on a plane and take a pitch meeting with the Swoosh just to hear what they had to say.

"My mother said, 'You're gonna go listen. You may not like it, but you're gonna go listen,'" Jordan said ... "She made me get on that plane and go listen."

At the time, MJ thought Nikes just weren't a top-flight shoe. He was more into the Adidas.

But, when a very young MJ met with Adidas, they made it clear he would NOT be pushed as their premiere athlete and they weren't open to giving him his own shoe.

Converse -- the other top sneaker company at the time -- had Magic Johnson and Larry Bird on their roster and also didn't see him as their top guy.

So, Jordan took the Nike meeting -- and the rest is history.

"Go into that meeting not wanting to be there, and Nike made this big pitch," Jordan said ... "My father said, 'You'd have to be a fool not taking this deal. This is the best deal.'"

Nike was working on their "Air" technology -- which they built into MJ's shoe and called "Air Jordan."

Also, Nike hired Spike Lee to direct the Air Jordan commercials -- and they were AWESOME.

In fact, Nike only expected $3 million in sales in the first 4 years ... but it sold $126 million in the first year alone!!!

Jordans ultimately became the most popular shoe in the world and made Michael hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

Joe Exotic is still wheeling and dealing from behind bars ... TMZ has learned the 'Tiger King' is in talks to become the face of a new fashion line!!!

Odain Watson, the owner of the streetwear brand, Odaingerous, tells TMZ ... he wants to partner with Joe on a limited edition collection, and they're already hammering out details through prison phone calls and letters.

Odain says his company reached out to Joe in late March by letter, pitched him on being the face of its next collection ... and he was super intrigued.

The collection sounds pretty cool ... it's being dubbed "REVENGE" and Joe's line would include graphic T-shirts, hoodies and joggers with his face and, of course, tigers.

We're told it will also feature images related to Joe's plight. Y'know ... backstabbing, betrayal, fake friends, success and such.

And, the pièce de résistance -- an exclusive t-shirt with a 'Tiger King' biker jacket print on it. Complete with tiger-striped lapel. We know ... weird, but click through the gallery. You'll get it.

We're told the contract's close to be signed, but they're still negotiating profit sharing ... kind of a big outstanding deal point.

Problem is, the novel coronavirus is throwing a wrench in the plans ... we're told legal mail and communication are stalled at FMC Fort Worth. Remember, Joe's prison is the second leading hotbed for COVID-19 in the federal prison system.

Sorry, folks ... no word on pink sequin shirts making the 'Revenge' tour. Yet.

LaVar Ball says he's definitely open to the idea of teaming with Puma for a Big Baller Brand shoe collab ... saying "the possibilities are unlimited" now that his boys signed with Roc Nation.

"If everything goes right, this thing can be explosive," Ball tells TMZ Sports about joining forces with Jay-Z.

As we previously reported, all 3 of LaVar's sons -- LaMelo, LiAngelo and Lonzo -- are signing with Roc Nation to handle "marketing opportunities" off the court ... which includes shoe deals.

And, with Jay-Z being the creative director for Puma Basketball -- there have been questions about if the boys will jump ship from Big Baller Brand and sign with Hov's company instead.

But, LaVar says it doesn't have to be one or the other -- when asked if there was a possibility of BBB and Puma collaborating on a shoe, he seemed very into the idea.

"That could be," LaVar said ... "See, that's a good thing about dealing with Roc Nation. The possibilities are unlimited."

"They said something I liked which is 'Lavar, we wanna change the game. We wanna do something special.' Now, that terminology right there means I'm supposed to be with you guys. Because my boys are special and like I said, I wanna change so it's all good."

LaVar also told us the decision to join Roc Nation was a FAMILY decision made after thoroughly vetting several agencies.

"I think you have to go through different agencies to see the one that you need that's going to have the same mindset as you. I feel that Roc Nation is trying to move in a direction that we moving in."

As for Jay-Z -- who famously supported LaVar's initial foray into the shoe business back in the day -- Ball says he's "cool" with Hov, but the decision to sign wasn't just about one man.

"All those folks is good man ... Roc Nation wants to do exactly what me and my boys want to do."

There's more ... LaVar is still having fun promoting the Big Baller Brand -- and he's even hosting an online pop-up shop where fans can Zoom with him as they cop BBB march.

"I got a great team around me where my newest guys always thinking of new ideas and things to do to make the brand grow."