MI CASA SU CASA: Is it a wind-up or a wedding? No one knows for sure, but beauty mogul Kylie Jenner certainly has social media abuzz about her Italian escapades.

TMZ broke the news that what looked like a wedding dress was stowed away, when the beauty billionaire and Travis Scott boarded a private jet bound for “Bel Paese.” The fact that their toddler Stormi wasn’t the only member of their extended family who was along for the ride only ratcheted up the rumor mill. Kris Jenner, Corey Gamble, Scott Disick and Sofia Richie have also been photographed on various strolls in Italy.

Jenner jump-started the celebration of her 22nd birthday two days early on Thursday night with Scott over dinner, complete with a candles-ablaze birthday cake and what looked like a serragghia serenade. Italian tradition calls for a groom to serenade his bride-to-be with musicians from beneath the balcony or window on the night before her wedding. Chalk that up to coincidence. The “Sicko Mode” singer did not appear to be sharing his talents at the dinner table in Capri.

The feathery white dress that set the rumor mill in motion was carried in a white Saks Fifth Avenue garment bag. Staffers at the retailer’s Fifth Avenue flagship and its Beverly Hills outpost were buzzing about Jenner’s purchase, according to a few insiders. Whatever the occasion, Jenner supposedly wanted to keep things confidential, preferring to shop via the Fifth Avenue Club, which caters to bold-faced names and big spenders. Sources said the feathery Oscar de la Renta frock was for a special occasion, which leaves a lot to speculation or imagination.

Oscar de la Renta Bridal Spring 2020 
Courtesy Photo

Oscar de la Renta RTW Spring 2019 
Giovanni Giannoni/WWD

An Oscar de la Renta representative was unable to confirm that Jenner had bought a dress. More than one Saks salesperson said they could not comment on Jenner’s dress purchase, but one offered, “I’m so sorry. I can’t speak to anyone outside of the Kardashian family.” Such caution could be rudimentary when dealing with the Momager & Co. Paging Ryan Seacrest.

Scott, meanwhile, is said to have brought along an interesting plus-one for the family getaway — his stylist. The rapper sported a right-off-the-runway printed silk shirt from Casablanca’s spring collection Thursday in Italy. Jenner took a when-in-Rome approach wearing Versace. Scott has other pieces from the Paris-designed and Casablanca-made company packed away for the getaway.

Jenner’s sister Kourtney Kardashian has also embraced the summery set-up with style wearing a leopard-printed bandeau bikini from The Upside Thursday. The day before she shared with her 80.7 million Instagram followers a shot with her daughter Penelope enjoying some gelato in Cinque Terra. Whether or not that bikini post was taken in Portofino could not be confirmed by the brand that was started by Australian model and socialite Jodhi Meares. Either way by Friday afternoon, the affordable swimsuit had nearly sold out on Shopbop.

Whether this family escape leads to a matrimonial union remains a question mark. Maybe it’s just a party or a prank. Either way the Jenner-Kardashian keep building their captive audience and laughing all the way to the “banca.”

Read more:

Kylie Jenner Wears Versace for Italian Birthday Dinner

Then and Now: A Look Back at the Kardashian-Jenner-West Fashion and Beauty Empire

“I got it tatted on me, ‘born broke, die rich,’” said rising rapper Dave East, lifting his white T-shirt and revealing the cursive letters marked below his navel.

The 31-year-old New York City native, born David Brewster Jr., came from humble beginnings, becoming a Crip as a teen, and later, facing a stint in prison for selling drugs. Following the 2010 release of his first mixtape, “Change of Plans,” and the broader attention that followed with 2014’s “Black Rose,” he’s been forging a different path and is now signed to Def Jam Recordings. With 2.4 million Instagram followers and millions of YouTube hits on each music video (“Perfect,” featuring Chris Brown, has 34 million views alone), East is one to watch.

“Them four words mean everything to me,” he continued. It’s also the title of a 2016 collaborative EP with Philadelphia rapper Kur. “You’re born a certain way, but you don’t gotta die like that.”

All eyes were on the rising rapper as he held court on Fairfax Avenue, smoking a joint in front of Diamond Supply Co., where he celebrated his collaboration with the streetwear and skateboard label on Thursday evening.

Inside the shop, “born broke, die diamond” read the $36 T-shirts hanging on a rack. The items on display, available online starting today, included a sweatshirt ($99) and tracksuit ($122 for the jacket, $99 for the pants), all of which come in white or navy blue.

“I’ve been a fan of Diamond [Supply Co.] forever,” shared East. “I finally got a chance to link up with Nicky [Tershay] and really discuss the collab and put something together. They don’t do work with everybody. I feel like it’s a real exclusive company, and I felt like it wasn’t nothing that would have just been some throwaway.”

Diamond Supply Co. founder Nick Tershay, too, was a fan.

“To me, I feel like he’s old school New York, even though he’s young,” said Tershay, whose past collaborations include releases with rappers Travis Scott, Wiz Khalifa and Tyler, the Creator. “His vibe is really authentic. I love his music. I think he’s amazing.”

The two met through a mutual friend, he shared: “He liked Diamond [Supply Co.], and we gave him some stuff. He came to meet us here in L.A., and we just clicked. We were like, ‘Hey, man, why don’t we do something. [It] makes sense.’”

When it came to the collection and design, East requested “a tracksuit and to do something with his existing logo,” continued Tershay. “When you do a tracksuit, it’s usually pretty basic, but we added some really cool fabrics. We did an ultrasuede on the back, nylon and polyester on the front for the navy blue. The fabric breaks made it interesting and different. For the white one, it was the same fabrics, but we did contrast stripes on the pants. And we took his ‘D’ logo, and inside it, we put a patch of the Empire State Building. Obviously, ‘D’ is also for Diamond so that worked out really well.”

For inspiration in fashion, East said he looked to Off-White creator and artistic director for men’s wear at Louis Vuitton, Virgil Abloh. In music, it’s fellow New York rapper Nas, who gave East his big break back in 2014 when he signed him to his label, Mass Appeal Records.

“They go against the norm,” said East. “They go against what’s regular. They’re constantly doing something to either push the culture forward or challenge the game. They inspire me in certain ways, but other than that, it’s the streets. The people whose names you don’t know. When I go back to my hood, Queens, Brooklyn, or here in L.A., the people that’s not famous, that’s what inspires me.”

Now, following his 2017 debut LP, “Paranoia: A True Story,” the rapper is getting ready to release his sophomore, anticipated album, “Survival,” out in September. It’s executively produced by Nas, he shared. He’s also acting, playing Method Man in Hulu’s upcoming mini-series, “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” premiering Sept. 4.

“My first single comes out next Friday, Aug. 2,” said East, relighting his joint. “It’s me and Gunna, and then I got a record with Max B. I’m dropping two songs next Friday. Both are on my album.”

“It’s 100 percent New York,” he said of the sound.

In a parallel universe, East, who’s 6 feet, 5 inches, handsome and covered in tattoos, would have been a basketball star. In high school, he played in the Amateur Athletic Union alongside NBA players Ty Lawson and Greivis Vásquez and formed a friendship with Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant. He proceeded to play in college, but life took a turn when he left Towson University, following continuous disputes with basketball staff. Soon, however, he found music.

“I feel like rap fit me better,” he said. “I could hoop. I could have went and did that, but this is my lifestyle, my temperament, my mentality. I’m more me with this. With that, I would have to deal with a coach. You have to get up this time, that time.”

“I can’t do that s–t,” he continued. “With this, everything is on me.”

After traveling the world, Tommy Hilfiger is bringing its TommyNow fashion show back to New York.

On Sept. 8, the company will showcase the fall 2019 Tommy x Zendaya collaborative collection, codesigned by Tommy Hilfiger and global brand ambassador Zendaya, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The choice of the Apollo Theater confirms a WWD report on Jan. 8.

The show is expected to continue the themes of inclusion, diversity and empowerment that Hilfiger and Zendaya brought to the TommyNow runway show in Paris for spring 2019. That runway show, which paid homage to the 1973 French-U.S. “Battle of Versailles,” featured an all-black cross-generational cast including Grace Jones, Beverly Johnson, Pat Cleveland, Grace Jones, Veronica Webb, Halima Aden, Jourdan Dunn and Winnie Harlow. Roller disco dancers on an illuminated runway warmed up the crowd of more than 1,000 guests.

The Apollo show marks Hilfiger’s return to New York, having shown in the city for fall 2016. Since that initial presentation, the worldwide tour touched down in Los Angeles for spring 2017, London for fall 2017, Milan for spring 2018, Shanghai for fall 2018, and then Paris.

“After traveling the world with TommyNow and an unforgettable show in Paris with Zendaya, I’m excited to return to where our see-now-buy-now journey started,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “Zendaya’s desire to bring TommyNow to Harlem felt like an amazing next step in expressing her vision for the future. Her statement-making point of view in everything she does is what makes her such an inspiring collaborator — it is an honor to continue to provide her with a platform in the fashion industry to share this.”

The Apollo Theater has hosted some of the world’s most iconic entertainers including Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle and The Supremes.

According to the company, the fall Tommy x Zendaya collection will take cues from these strong and confident women, reimagining era-defining power dressing with a bold modern edge.

All runway looks will be available at immediately shoppable channels in more than 70 countries, including online at tommy.com, in Tommy Hilfiger stores, select wholesale partners, and social media.

In May, Ozwald Boateng staged a women’s and men’s runway show at the Apolllo Theater, designed to celebrate culture, diversity, music, history and fashion and to mark the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance.

HONOR ROLL: “I can’t believe it!” Maria Grazia Chiuri exclaimed in Italian as she bounded up to her former boss, Valentino Garavani, at the Dior headquarters in Paris on Monday night.

The veteran designer was one of several hundred people gathered at 30 Avenue Montaigne to watch Chiuri receive the Legion of Honor, France’s highest civilian distinction, from France’s gender equality minister Marlène Schiappa.

About to close for renovations, the building had been decked out in an immersive installation by feminist artist Penny Slinger for Chiuri’s haute couture show earlier in the day, giving the proceedings a surrealist twist.

Flanked by her husband Paolo, son Nicolo and daughter Rachele, Chiuri was swarmed by well-wishers, including fellow designer Alber Elbaz; photographer Ellen Von Unwerth; Pathé Ouédraogo, the Burkina Faso-born designer better known as Pathé’O, with whom she worked on her recent resort collection, and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who inspired her “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirt.

LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the luxury conglomerate which owns the Dior label, was out in force. Antoine Arnault, head of communication and image, was joined by his partner, model Natalia Vodianova; his sister Delphine Arnault, executive vice president of Louis Vuitton; Sidney Toledano, chairman and chief executive officer of LVMH Fashion Group, and Dior ceo Pietro Beccari.

Guests gathered chairs left over from the fashion show to settle down for the ceremony, which began with Schiappa noting they both share the same goal of empowering women, before recounting Chiuri’s rise through the ranks of Fendi and Valentino to become the first female artistic director of women’s wear at Dior.

“Feminism, that word which has too often been rejected, is making a comeback, largely thanks to you — and also thanks to this little rising singer called Beyoncé,” the minister joked.

“Convinced that fashion is a political act, you are careful to reflect your values in each of your designs, and under your leadership, fashion shows are turning into fascinating conversations between fashion, art, culture, activism and feminism,” Schiappa added.

A visibly emotional Chiuri spoke a few words of French before continuing her speech in English. “Even today I still feel like the curious girl who went to school in Rome to learn fashion design,” she said, choking up as the audience erupted into loud cheers.

“Receiving such an important honor in France, which represents fashion and culture, and from the hands of a woman like Marlène Schiappa, who expresses the most important values for me, is a new emotion,” she said, urging young women to “believe in themselves and follow their instincts.”

Chiuri said women showed her the path when she was starting out. “The Fendi sisters have been a great example for me: designers, businesswomen, wives, mothers, sisters, women — always curious and open to discussion, always working in a team, a sisterhood, to reach common goals,” she said.

She thanked Bernard Arnault, chairman and ceo of LVMH and the world’s third-richest person, for allowing her to bring her message to the masses.

“Dior is a maison that represents femininity, and for this reason I believe that my commitment is to make women aware of their potential, and I thank the maison that supports me to give a voice to women and their work. Their commitment can change the world,” she concluded.

For his first collaboration with another brand, New York swimwear designer George Sotelo of Thorsun scored the crème de la crème: Charvet, perhaps the world’s most famous and storied maker of high-end shirts and ties, and a French national treasure that has occupied the same corner of Place Vendôme since 1838.

Their first effort is a capsule collection of swim trunks in four archival Charvet neckwear prints for spring 2020, which are to be unveiled to the trade in Paris on June 24 and 25.

The project represents a leap into a new luxury strata for Sotelo, who founded his brand in 2014, and a carefully considered step back into resort wear for siblings Jean-Claude and Anne-Marie Colban, keepers of Charvet’s luxury legacy.

Sotelo first met the Colbans 15 years ago, when he treated himself to a custom shirt. He became hooked, and a friendship blossomed. Then two years ago, Jean-Claude shared an article from Vanity Fair in the Twenties about businessmen who morphed into “peacocks in the sand,” donning flamboyantly printed Charvet robes in Palm Beach. Could a new era of seaside boldness be at hand?

The Colbans agreed to do something together — on their perfectionist terms, an experience Sotelo relished as a rich learning experience. “We really took the time to make sure every detail is perfect, down to every stitch,” he said. “It’s a rugged short, but it feels luxurious.”

A piece from the Charvet x Thorsun spring 2020 collection. 
Courtesy Image

Accustomed to the best silks and cottons, the Colbans first balked at high-performance technical fabrics, until Sotelo found one made in France with a cotton-like hand and an ability to dry in seven minutes. The partners adjusted Thorsun’s Titan fit model with deeper pockets and other ergonomic considerations, also incorporating silk knots, the signature Charvet cuff link, to punctuate the chartreuse waist cords. Sotelo calls the designs “more grown-up” versions of Thorsun.

“This has been an enjoyable process throughout, from the dive into our archives to the search for the right fabric, printing technique and details, and we took our time to do it exactly how we all felt was right,” said Jean-Claude Colban, noting that “some of today’s Paris customers who love our printed patterns have been repeatedly asking us to develop swimwear in the same spirit.”

In fact, Colban said Charvet’s oeuvre adapted easily to Thorsun’s. “It seems swim trunks and neck pieces have a lot in common, in particular the repetition of the patterns on a small piece of fabric and the status of focal adornment,” he said. “Altogether, it has been very interesting to see how patterns and color combinations evocative of an elegant dress code remain valid in such a casual context.”

The Charvet/Thorson swim shorts, made in the U.S. from French fabric, are to retail for $395 — versus $275 for Thorsun’s existing models. Sotelo expects the venture will help each party widen its base of wholesale accounts. Shared ones already include Bergdorf Goodman and Mr Porter.