Last night Evelyn and Leonard Lauder hosted an engagement party for Tommy Hilfiger and fiancée Dee Ocleppo at the Neue Gallery on 86th and Fifth Avenue.

New York Social Diary reports that the evening was attended by Condé Nast's part owner Donald Newhouse and wife Susan, Oprah gal pal Gayle King, Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir, Clive Davis, Russell Simmons, and socialites Bettina Zilkha and Diana Picasso.  read more »

False rumors that Tommy Hilfiger voiced regret over his clothing’s popularity in the African-American community dogged him for years. It took nothing short of a blessing from Oprah Winfrey to make them go away. Except, it seems, they didn’t go away at all.

Clothing label Frank Fuller Classic, apparently a sort of wannabe prep outfitter with a CK Bradley style sense, took out an advertisement recently in a magazine that reads: “Frank Fuller Clothing CO Is Not Racist Like Tommy Hilfiger.”

Attorneys for the 56-year-old Americana macher responded immediately, sending the magazine and the clothing company cease and desist letters. Mr. Hilfiger’s rep also offered TMZ.com a statement, saying: “This is nothing more than a hoax concocted months after Oprah and Tommy put to rest the tired, baseless yet intolerable rumor, declaring it a ‘big, fat lie.’”

On Monday, Nov.  read more »

Ann Dexter-Jones isn’t afraid of a little street meat (no, not the Boy George variety!) Last night, The Daily Transom chatted with the socialite at the meatpacking district nightclub STK (where she was celebrating her friend, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger’s new book), she was craving—gasp!—a hot dog.

“On the way here—I came from this Chopard, Elton John thing tonight—and on the way down in the car, I was thinking, If I see one of those Gray's Papayas, I really feel like a hot dog. I like the funky street vendor hot dogs.” She was wearing a great beige pantsuit that would have made toppings perilous, though; and anyway she didn't get the opportunity. “There was no Gray’s Papaya on the way down; the driver was in a hurry. But I walk in here and they have sliced hot dogs!” she said excitedly, referring to trays of sliced gourmet bratwurst being passed around the super-sleek event space.

Unpretentious, right? So how does Ms. Dexter-Jones navigate her perilously high-altitude New York social life? “How do I deal with pretension? I don’t! I just cut to the chase and am attracted to talk to people who I feel comfortable with,” she went on, “And everybody else can have a very good time having their own party in their own head.”  read more »

After running into Ally Hilfiger, daughter of fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and the recent subject of a Page Six Magazine cover story, we decided to ask her how she reacted to the piece.

“My mom’s name is not Sheila; it’s Susie, which is funny, because we kind of laughed about that. But other than that, they really understood where I was coming from and I was really honest,” she told the Daily Transom last night at a party hotelier Andre Balazs and GQ magazine co-hosted for Mr. Hilfiger and ad wizard George Lois’ new book, Iconic America: A Roller-Coaster Ride Through the Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture.

Ms. Hilfiger, 22, purports to enjoy attending events at night, but she winces a little upon hearing the word “socialite.”

“I believe in giving back to the world. And however I can do that is my goal, one of my goals in life. If that labels me as a socialite, so be it. But I’d like to be known more for my talent and for my creativity, as well as giving back to underprivileged people, sick people and charities and things like that. My main goal is definitely not to go to a lot of parties and go out all the time and be seen. It’s more to do better for the world,” Ms. Hilfiger said.

Plus, she doesn’t have much time for party-hopping these days. Ms. Hilfiger, who just designed a t-shirt for Izzy Gold (“a hip, cool line”), said she is currently working on several upcoming art shows and is in talks to star in a theatrical production on Broadway.

On Wednesday night, Tommy Hilfiger and Condé Nast threw a party at the Museum of Modern Art, to celebrate the designer's new book, Iconic America: A Roller Coaster Ride Through The Eye-Popping Panorama of American Pop Culture (written in collaboration with master adman George Lois, the creative force behind Esquire magazine in its heyday).

"You look at everyone from Martin Luther King to Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe—both alive and not alive—Mickey Mouse, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mickey Mantle," said Mr. Hilfiger, who arrived with his beautiful girlfriend of a year and a half, Dee Ocleppo. "You look at everyone from, maybe Jackson Pollack, to …" He paused.  read more »

In the wake of the Don Imus “nappy-headed hos” scandal, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger wants to get something straight.

“There’s a rumor about me being a racist,” Mr.  read more »