Earlier this week we got a tip that 42-year-old designer Thom Browne was dating a 19-year-old blond hottie. They met at a launch event for Browne's Black Fleece line at Brooks Brothers, and since then have been out on the town together (including a stop at Browne's favorite restaurant, Il Cantinori). The kid, who we'll leave unnamed in case his parents read Daily Intel, is currently studying at Columbia. So we called up Browne's people and asked them what was going on — we were dying to know, after all. Thom himself is adorable, and we heard that this new boy was a partyboy, along the lines of Marc Jacobs' own on-again-off-again rentboy, Jason Preston. We especially hoped there would be similar tattoo branding. But Browne's rep said that the two weren't dating — and had only barely met at the Black Fleece event. Which we believed, until today when we saw the above picture of the twink, lurking in the shadows at Thom's runway show yesterday. Looks cute, huh? Except his pant legs are entirely too long. We hope that's the next thing Thom gets to working on…

Thom Browne Brings Wool to the Beach [Fashionista]