Since he couldn’t possibly fill all of that OutKast downtime with guest verses and Hollywood turns, the man born Andre Benjamin, who then branded himself Andre 3000 and who’s now once again Andre Benjamin, has also spent the last few months exploring the world of fancy frocks, hoping to allow the common man (with a little dough) to borrow some of his infamous mix-and-match sartorial style. The rapper-turned-clothier currently plans for an autumn debut for his upscale fashion imprint–think more high-end department store than the place you pick up your remaindered G-Unit apparel–Benjamin Bixby. The line is so named not for the man who was once the Incredible Hulk, but because…well, probably because it sounded like a jolly Dickens urchin. And if your closet is full of throwbacks and manpris, but light on cravats and waistcoats, then it just might be for you.

That mix of application and instinct carries over to his personal style. It takes a certain serenity to rock the resplendent Bixby outfit he recently wore to a Fashion Week party: wide-brimmed fedora, green waistcoat, buttery brown leather riding boots (”vintage”) that pushed his pants up, jodhpur style. He looked more like a wealthy, eccentric caballero than a thirties jock toff, but then, he wants the line to tell stories. Benjamin Bixby, he says, “is a character who’s kind of like your uncle, or your granddad, and he has a closet full of experiences and clothes, and he’s been around the world…”

Tearing pages out of magazines as a kid left Benjamin with a reverence for English style: He fetishizes “timeless” clothes, name-checks old-school brands like Turnbull & Asser, and calls his own style “classic spontaneity” or “rebel gentleman.” What this means, in effect, is doing a little remix. Here, he’s wearing a Façonnable shirt with Polo khakis and a tie from his new line worn as a belt. “There has to be something inventive about it,” he says. “But not so inventive that it’s a turnoff. So that some of the greats, like Beau Brummell or the Duke of Windsor, would nod and say, ‘Well done.’ Those guys killed it.” Now, that’s hip-hop.

Considering the good Mr. Brummell infamously “claimed to polish his boots with champagne,” that might not be so wide of the mark as haters might think. Not even hip-hop’s most ball-’til-they-fall spendthrifts have suggested scrubbing a pair of kicks fresh and clean using Cristal. That we know of, anyway.

Andre Benjamin Launches New Clothing Line, Benjamin Bixby [New York Magazine]