In 2001, André Benjamin - a.k.a. André 3000 - sang, "Ain't nobody dope as me, I dress so fresh, so clean." And he wasn't exaggerating.
Here, after all, was a hip-hop artist (one half of the Atlanta-based duo Outkast) who, as his career gained more traction, started to take greater fashion risks, donning everything from britches and riding boots to many a questionable wig.
But instead of becoming a fashion outcast, something else happened. He became a bona fide fashion designer.
The spring collection of his cool-cat label Benjamin Bixby is only the performer's second, but it has already been picked up by such tony retailers as Holt Renfrew and Harrods. In an interview with The Guardian last year, he said that Vogue editor Anna Wintour predicted success, but warned that that he needed buyers to "understand that this is not just an overnight entertainer brand, that you want this business to grow."
It would, in fact, be all too easy to dismiss the collection as just another celebrity clothing line in which the boldface namesake plays no part. But Benjamin, who was in Toronto this week, suggests otherwise.
"I've been going to the Italian factories that make our jackets and the Hong Kong factories that make our knits," the slim, mild-mannered singer said before being feted at a cocktail party at Holt Renfrew's flagship store on Tuesday. "Every little piece, every button, the stitch colour, the stitch width - this was stuff I didn't even know I had to learn."
What came naturally to Benjamin, who grew up in Atlanta as the only child of a single mother who sold real estate, was style. "When I was a kid, it was all about clothes and girls and cars and music. We always had a do-our-own-thing kind of spirit in high school."
Since his father wasn't around, he didn't "have a male to say, 'This is how you tie a tie.' "
But "as an adult, I saw how Cary Grant or Frank Sinatra wore their pants a certain way and thought that was cool."
His label's name, Benjamin Bixby, refers to an alias he used on an episode of Punk'd, the TV show in which actor Ashton Kutcher pulls pranks on celebrities. Its old-fashioned air-balloon logo represents the creative journeys he wants his collections to take.
Last fall, Benjamin channelled football in the 1920s, while spring 2009 offers his interpretation of colonial India.
Often referred to as the "dapper rapper," he gives design details the same measure of whimsy as his lyrics. The lining of a raw linen jacket, for example, boasts an antique map print, while polo T-shirts feature patches under the arm with air vents. (Prices range from $125 to $1,200.)
"As a [male consumer], you're often looking for hidden treasures, like a tilting of the button hole or maybe a certain colour behind the collar," said Benjamin, himself dressed in a purple button-down shirt, jeans with a handkerchief poking out the front left pocket and L.L. Bean duck boots.
In Outkast's early days, when "we were really young and really trying to be accepted," he tended to play down his love of clothing, but he now wants his line to appeal to those in the know. If the initial reception is any indication, that shouldn't be too difficult.
