12 Style Tips From André 3000

Image via Complex Original

"You gotta find out what works for you and your face shape and what you’re trying to say. Your job has a lot to do with it too. Some clean cut people they pretty much work corporate jobs, and for me it's just whatever. Me and Big Boi started rapping 'cause we didn’t want to be in the corporate world, but if I had to be in it I’d probably try the handlebar mustache."

"Find people that you like and admire. Try to mimic them, then you’ll end up finding your own thing. Like one of my favorite artists, Miles Davis, he said when he started playing horn he said the best thing to do is play exactly like who you love and then you’ll end up turning around and it’ll become you. So Charlie Parker was probably his guy and then he ended up finding his own style. Just mimic the people who you dig and your personality will come out from it."

"I’ve worn this outfit for weeks and these are my own clothes. I didn’t pay for anything new. You’re used to it. You know what works. How to mix and match it."

"I hate looking like a mannequin. And by that I mean like if you go to some store and the mannequin's head-to-toe in designer brands. I hate head-to-toe dressers."

"I've done some crazy looks that didn’t really look to cool on me and I had to figure out well, that’s not my thing. It’s trial and error. You just have to see what works for you and what doesn’t."

"It’s almost like learning how to talk, your parents, you hear them as a baby and you kind of mimic and they say ABCs and you mimic the ABCs and then once you learn those pieces you put them together in your own kind of way. It’s the same thing with style."

Once you learn the rules it’s so cool to break them. When you know why they said that, sometimes it's cool to just say 'fuck it.' And that’s a style within itself."

"Accessorizing is not about if it's too much—it’s just if it's too much for you. I've never been in a real big gold chain wearer. I never been that kind of person and like right now in recession times, hard times, I would feel really stupid for wearing big gold chains. For me its just a personal thing. I've had this bead necklace for like 15 years and my descent is African and Native American so it’s a little bit of both."

"My inspiration is the people on the street. Style is a personal thing, and my thing is 'just try it,' 'cause you never know what works."

"Style is a feeling. And I mean, you can get caught up into chasing and pleasing other people, but you’ll feel like shit inside. You’ll do it for a while, and then you just say 'you know what? I don’t feel that way' and then you’ll just grab what you feel like and you’ll feel great."

"I’ve had this jacket for years and I bought these jeans off the Internet, and then the knee tore up so I put pins in it. I was supposed to put a patch under it, but this was like a makeshift thing—and then people was like 'oh, that’s cool!' so I just left it. So it's just kinda like adding new stuff to old stuff."

"At the end of the day it's your world. Other people's opinion about how you look is just opinion. It’s all about how you feel. It’s all a conversation., and you speak with your clothes. "