I've heard rumors about this "fashion designer" being a lesbian. I don't know, its it real or people just love to gossip about her.

Kimora Lee Simmonds!!! But I thought her dude was gay too? i.e he was in on the game/arrangement? Anywayss, she's also a scientologist-which COMPLETELY makes sense as they recruit closeted stars…

I see you, Kimora!!!

Kimora. Her "insiders" secretly hate her enough to leak this kind of info. Djimon is fiiiinneeee, but looks (and probably is) dumbstuck enough to believe anything she says. Russell Simmons puts up with her BS, bans his woman from her/his show, calls her a bitch in the press, and who knows what else. Come on! They OBVIOUSLY have some twanged up stuff going on in the sheets!

I say Kimora only because I can't think of any other female designers with actor boyfriends.

DVF's husband is gay and he's not an actor.
Donna Karan is dating a 20something model.
Tracy Reese - ??
Vera Wang - married with kids, don't think husband is an actor
Gwen Stefani - husband musician
JLo - husband is sometimes an actor. COULD be her.
Rachel Roy - husband music exec
Stella McCartney - don't think husband is an actor
Tobey McGuire's fiancee is a little suspect

If Kimora's a lesbian, I doubt she likes butch women.

It pains me to say this because I find Kimora so irritating, but I think she's gorgeous. Painfully hot. As a lesbian, I think it would be good for our image if a famous 'lipstick lesbian' came out of the closet.

it's me! i really want a spanish butch! lmao, if you can't tell i'm a lesbian too, and there have been rumors floating around for years in the nyc community that she was dating "aggresive"(another word for butch that lesbians of color use) actress/model kisha batista, and that she was basically her sugar mama supporting her. i don't blame kimora, the girl is hot.

@daria why would it be a problem for her to like butch women? there is an appeal to a masculine woman that draws straight and gay women alike…more than you would think.

Jen, but doesn't piss you off that she doesn't want to come out?! I mean WHO cares nowadays in fASHION! It's soo strange-people are so weird with their hang ups..

@sloane - you can have mine.

I can see the appeal of lipstick lesbians. I dunno. Kimora was a model when a lot of models looked like women (nice face, breasts, tiny waist, hips). I can't for the life of me understand the appeal of butch lesbians much like I can't understand the appeal of effeminate men. I'm (mostly) straight. I love masculine men. The handful of women who could get it (all celebrities so it's never going to happen) are all feminine women. Can someone explain the appeal of girly men and boyish women?

boo hoo, I think Tom Ford is a closet heterosexual.

@ Daria

I asked my gay BFF (who's into femmes) the same thing. She said there's just an appeal that bois and studs have because they're soft and hard at the same time.

I can only think of one attractive stud and that's because her face was simply stunning and she didn't act so mannish.

Anonymiss

@ Jen

Portia de Rossi's relatively famous.

a lot of bi women are pretty feminine. anne heche, cynthia nixon, angelina jolie, katherine hepburn, billie holiday, etc.

@boo hoo/rant magazine

It frustrates me that she won't come out only because there aren't enough gays and/or lesbians in positions of influence coming out at all. That Kimora's not the primary lesbian stereotype would have been a bonus.

I'll never be pissed at anyone for staying in the closet because that is such a scary and painful choice to make until you make it. The choice to come out, that is.

@Anonymiss

Portia is a great example! She came out after Ally McBeal, but long before Arrested Development and her career hasn't suffered at all

"Can someone explain the appeal of girly men and boyish women?"

No. You either know or you don't. There's no way anyone can explain it to you in a way that will make you understand. I've been with all types of women including masculine ones - not women who are straight up dudes, but chicks who have a masculine vibe.

Maybe I'm out the loop, but I assumed that they were talking about Eve. Fetish is still a line isn't it?

On another tip, to me( as a woman), dating a T or an aggressive would defeat the purpose of being with a woman. That's just my opinion.

Daria! heh! yeah I'd like to think he's closet Het BUT he's soooo gay! Un-bashedly so too!

Jen, fair enough, of course it's hard but I still don't see what the issue is now within fashion-it's crazy and sad because you have to live a lie….

Yeah, we all have our choices but god I wish sometimes we/one would look at the bigger picture and see what it can do..

but whatevs huh?

Tom Ford is a closeted straight man. I don't care what you, his partner of like 20 years and Anna Wintour say. He takes every opportunity to be all up on models and actresses.

Gorgeous Black Women

BACK. IT. UP.

Celebrity fashion designers: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Sienna Miller, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz and Kate Moss.

IT'S PENELOPE CRUZ!!! Her boyfriend is Javier Bardem and they've been "canoodling" around the world for the past few months. Evidence that it's her: dated Tom Cruise for 3 years. She's from Spain. Her BFF is a Salma Hayek, a Mexican woman though she's not butch. Salma exudes confidence. She's powerful, intelligent and would definitely be the dominant one in pretty much any relationship.

Gorgeous Black Women

Daria!! No, no, noo!! It's Kimora! Leave it honey….they wouldn't call celebs 'designers', they'd say 'celeb designers'….

"DVF’s husband is gay and he’s not an actor"

Really
Barry Diller is ?

i can't come up with ubiquitous rationale for why people are attracted to butch women, but i can only explain why i am drawn to them, which like bmd stated, is kind of inexplicable. i guess the main reason is that there is a gender ambiguity and societal trangression against gender boundaries in butches that i will never personally experience as femme lesbian. i'm fascinated by the concept of growing up a female in this world, yet having the concept of masculinity be something that is so intrinsic to your being that it has to manifest itself in one way or another. i grew up innately feminine, so i'm sure that part of my captivation is an old fashioned case of opposites attracting. every butch, stud, ftm that i was ever friends with or that i ever dated was asked questions about how they viewed the world, and how they felt about themselves as children because they're experiences generally weren't like mine.

i also feel that gay people who are inherently masculine or feminine have more in common then one would think. we're compelled to express ourselves in communities that don't necessarily accept us (gay and straight), and i've found myself better able to relate to other gay people who have no issue with delineating who they are and revel in their transgressive identies; from the fey gay boys to the the most diesel studs. hope that helps you wrap your head around the concept.

Chic Noir, yes, Barry Diller is gay. Not bi. Gay. Before they married, he dated men. I don't know how openly, but it seemed to be general knowledge.

In college, I had a very diverse group of gay friends. Now, they're all male and not effeminate. They aren't necessarily super masculine though one definitely is a "bear" who loves fellow bears. It's a little sad that a good piece of time is spent talking about men but that probably explains why almost all my friends are straight women and some very relationship-focused gay men.

I don't really know any lesbians who really spend time with non-lesbians these days and it's probably for the same reasons I seem to hang out with mostly straight women of color. We have more in common. Some in my social circle are homophobic too which I always call them on, but if I were a lesbian, I probably wouldn't befriend them. Oddly, my most homophobic friend is really close to a gay black guy who would give a limb or two to be straight.

"Oddly, my most homophobic friend is really close to a gay black guy who would give a limb or two to be straight."… hmm thats a little sick and twisted

anyway, i have all kinds of friends, and to be honest a lot of them are black lesbians. we more in common than our sexuality, we also have how we navigate being triple minorities: black, lesbian, and female in a hostile society. so i understand being friends with people have seem to have the most in common with you, on the surface.

i also have gay friends friends of all races, and straight male and female friends. since i'm very feminine i often relate and bond with straight women over the trappings of femininity. i think that a lot of straight women are more likely to be friends with gay men because both groups can bond over an attraction to men and because there's a healthy and absolutely ridiculous fear of a predatory lesbian recruiting them. first of all, in my experience no woman has been turned out that wasn't already halfway there. second lesbians are as discerning as straight women when looking for partners, i REALLY DON'T want to jump into bed with every attractive woman i meet. i'm not saying that i don't appreciate female beauty because i do, but beyond that, like everyone else have a type, and the typical straight girl doesn't appeal to me. i like butch women. there is really no reason for there to be a divide. as long as people are respectful of who i am and i can discuss my life as freely with them as they can discuss theirs with me, then we're cool. i draw the line of having anybody in my life who is homophobic and willfully ignorant, straight or gay.

i'm still kind of scratching my head over the aversion you seem to have towards butch women and effeminate men, since you don't seem to know any. i hope you get to expand your horizons soon, and see that they're just people, same as you and me, who do have people who are very attracted to them for exactly for who and what they are. everybody's got their something.

incorporate some lesbians into your life. they probably won't bite. ;- )

I'm a straight woman and have several lesbian friends that I count as my closest confidants. Two of them are more femme and the other is a straight-up butch. I go with them to gay and lesbian clubs all the time, and although I do get hit on, I've never once been aggressively pursued once I have been open about my sexuality. Sure, there are girls who have made the joke that all women are straight until they're not, but it's never gone beyond that. That's why I'm always dumbfounded when some of my other (straight) female friends say that they'd rather hang out with a gay guy than a lesbian. The only thing I have in common with a gay man is my attraction to men.

As for Kimora, it irks me that if a woman is strong, independent, and driven then the assumption is that she absolutely must be a lesbian. Sure, there may be some truth to the rumor, but we're all so eager to believe it that it doesn't even matter what the truth really is.

My circle of friends include gay and straight women. I can easily move in and out of both worlds w/o any hang ups so, honestly, I'm usually the only straight person in my group of gay friends that they feel 100% comfortable around.

Good point Helen SKor. Hillary Clinton, Condi Rice, Oprah Winfrey, etc.

I still think it's Penelope Cruz

Gorgeous Black Women