Andre Benjamin: Launching a menswear label is the hardest thing he’s ever done
I saw this at Business of Fashion. I don’t think I could ever get tired of news about Benjamin Bixby. A lot is riding on his success. I feel like he’s the first rapper to legitimately break into the high-end fashion world. Sean John OR Rocawear do not count, not by a long shot. But will the high-end fashion world accept him? I hope so.
Andre says that he has learned that merchandising is, by far, the most important aspect to get right in a new fashion business. “It’s like medicine,” he quipped. “You need to wrap it up in peanut butter to make it appealing.”
He went on to talk about the importance of getting the collection assortment right — balancing the items that will bring people into the stores with the things that they will actually buy. For a newbie in the fashion business, he seems to have picked things up pretty quickly.
The Guardian Interviews Andre Benjamin for Benjamin Bixby
Andre Benjamin talks to Simon Mills about his favorite shopping spots in London, how his outfits have evolved, and his ambitions for his fashion line, Benjamin Bixby.
Hackett, the young Sloane’s outfitters, is his favourite stop-off. Benjamin spends a small fortune there and knows all the staff. “You might think that a rapper from the deep south of America might not be our typical customer,” admits Hackett’s co-founder Jeremy Hackett. “But the fact that Andre comes at our clothes from a different perspective, not burdened with any of the preconceptions about class and sartorial stereotypes that a British customer might have, means he looks at the clothes in a new and fresh way. He puts our stuff together in a way that we never imagined and he is totally fearless with colour combinations. He’s got a really good eye.”
THE QUEUE
- M.I.S.S. Crew informs the ladies why his brother AND his friends are off limits | [M.I.S.S. Crew]
- Girl Talk destroyed three laptops, including a Panasonic Toughbook, last year in the anarchy that are his performances | [Details]
- Upgrader catches 50 Cent, Jeremy Piven, Mark Ronson, and Andre Benjamin dressing rather impeccably [PICTURED] | [Upgrader]
- Eva Mendes’ Houston Billboard is relatively tame. No nipple slippage here. No quotables either. | [Racked]
- Refinery votes their 10 best favorite women’s designers of London Fashion Week. | [Refinery29]
Andre 3000 Interviews with Esquire on Clothing Line, Benjamin Bixby
What kind of lunatic launches a luxury brand in a recession?
It’s not like we planned it this way, but it actually kind of helps. The person that I’m making clothes for doesn’t want to wear the same thing as everyone else, and so our biggest advantage is that we can be exclusive. If a man’s wearing Benjamin Bixby, you know he’s in the know.
Any thoughts on buying clothes in tough times?
Buy things that you love. Buy things that are never going to go out of style, and that you can wash for ten years and still have it be your favorite. And remember that the way you present yourself counts a lot.
[Seen at Esquire]
…
Short and sweet?
Andre 3000 for Benjamin Bixby
Andre 3000 launches his new line at Barney’s. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.
By the fact that it’s at Barney’s most likely means that it’s out of the price range. Oh well. What else isn’t affordable these days?
The Sartorialist x Andre 3000
The Sartorialist’s job has many perks. I wish I could wake up in the morning and just take pictures of fashionable people all day in different parts of the world. One of those perks includes taking pictures of celebrities, like one of my fashion inspirations, Andre Benjamin a.k.a. Andre 3000. Not only that, Andre 3000 is honored to have a paparazzi snap a photo of him in this case. I like the way 3000 shows his faculty for color combinations by rocking blue Chucks with yellow pants. Most men have trouble wearing yellow. Pairing it with blue is your safest bet.
[Photo by The Sartorialist, of course]
Andre 3000 Essentials for Men.Style.com
Andre 3000 lists the 10 things that he cannot do without for Men.Style.com. It looks like Mr. Andre Benjamin is making some right moves in advertising his upcoming clothing line, Benjamin Bixby.
I always wonder what I would put down once GQ chooses me for its essentials. I can’t even name 10 nice things I can’t do without. My list right now includes toilet paper, toothbrush, and plastic fork and spoon.
Fast backward in time
