André 3000 has been in his workwear era for the best part of a decade now, to the point that he’s basically worn nothing but overalls and camo T-shirts since the 2014 OutKast reunion for Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik’s 20th anniversary.
So, the fact that 48-year-old André is (finally) starting his own workwear brand alongside a currently-unnamed Dutch label certainly makes sense.
I suppose the only surprising part of it is that André hasn't started one sooner.
André’s forthcoming workwear label hasn’t yet launched (let alone been completed), although I’m reckoning he’s designed it in partnership with Amsterdam-based tailor Bonne Reijn, founder of BONNE.
I mean, it just makes sense. BONNE is known mostly for its durable two-piece workwear suits, André is a sucker for matching sets. Plus, BONNE also makes overalls. So if André is indeed working with BONNE you’d assume that there will be some colorful André-fied workwear incoming.
Of course, it’s highly likely that whomever André has partnered with, the result will likely include some sort of overall and camo T-shirt offering. Or perhaps he’s debuting his own André take on workwear? An exaggerated take on his own wardrobe, if you will.
It isn’t just his workwear era we’re fond of: André 3000 has always been a well-dressed guy.
Whether we’re talking about his Texan tuxedo look (a shirt, jeans, braces, and a straw hat) he wore religiously through the mid 2000s, the green and checkered ensemble he wore to the 2001 Grammys, or the wild green and orange ‘fit worn to the MTV VMAs in 2001, André’s outfits have always been above par.
The musician’s overalls and camo T-shirt phase, though, is different from the rest. He isn’t wearing them for attention or because he’s doing actual manual labor: he’s wearing them because they’re practical. They’re comfortable. And, especially on André, they look good, too.
“It takes a certain person to wear overalls,” he said in his Highsnobiety Magazine cover story. “They’re like grown-people baby clothes. They feel very comfortable — that’s why I love them.”
For André, a naturally stylish guy, his adoption of workwear as a uniform, a type of clothing immune to trends such is its very practical nature, is an indication he’s always done his own thing when it comes to dressing.
Sure, workwear has its on-trend moments (the luxurification of Carhartt, for instance), but at its core, workwear — real workwear — will always be worn, even if only for practical reasons.
For André, though, workwear will never be a trend. It’s a uniform. And now, ten years after adopting workwear as his official uniform, André 3000 is finally ready to start making his own.
