When it comes to clothes, Andre can’t be outclassed

Rapper Andre 3000 is the world’s best-dressed man, according to Esquire magazine. “He’s a complete individual,” said Nick Sullivan, Esquire’s fashion director. “But that’s really the point.”

Andre 3000 (aka Andre Benjamin) is the usually over-the-top-dressed half of hip-hip duo OutKast. Some of the 30-year-old’s fashion outings include a lime green jacket at the 2004 Grammy Awards, candy apple red fur for the VH1 Big in 2003 ceremony and a pink-on-pink ensemble for the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.

Sources of his fashion inspiration include clothes from period flicks like “Legends of the Fall” and “The Great Gatsby,” as well as the “old men” in his neighborhood.

“They’re kind of like a uniform, which I’ve always been into,” Andre tells Esquire. “To me, that’s real style, anything that feels comfortable and expresses your personality and makes you stand a little taller.”

Other fashion plates on the magazine’s menu include “Today” co-anchor Matt Lauer, Prince Felipe of Spain, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

We knew she’d end up doing time

Lil’ Kim is designing a line of watches, dubbed Royalty.

The rapper turned to celebrity jeweler Jacob Arabo to manufacture the timepieces, which will range in price from $1,800 to $3,500.

“These watches exude luxury,” she said, “but I wanted to create a quality, unique product that fashionable women everywhere can afford.”

A black day for the Peas

A fire broke out early Wednesday in a studio in Burbank, Calif., where the Black Eyed Peas were recording a new album, destroying about $500,000 in gear and instruments.

Band members lit candles during the recording session and forgot to blow them out, authorities said.

The hip-hop group, which performed at the Democratic National Convention, said it was devastated by the loss.

“Guitars, drums, drum kits, keyboards, microphones, classic instruments that we’ve collected with our worldly travels are now destroyed,” said member Will I. Am.

Now, that’s fighting dirrty

Christina Aguilera has been sued by a photographer who says her bodyguard punched and spat on him after he took her picture outside a Hollywood nightclub last year.

After Aguilera and the bodyguard got into a car, David Keeler claims, the guard told him he “needed to learn respect” and punched and spat on him.

Said an Aguilera representative: “Christina has no reason to believe that such an incident did occur, nor did she witness such an incident.”

He just keeps answering the call

Georgia fans of Alicia Keys keep calling her number, only to have a retired pastor pick up the phone.

In her love song “Diary,” Keys croons: “Oooo baby, if there’s anything that you fear/ Come forth and call 489-4608 and I’ll be here.”

The number in New York, where Keys lived at the time, rings to a recorded message for fans. But in Georgia, it’s belonged to J.D. Turner for the past 14 years.

“I get 20 to 25 calls a day,” Turner said. “Sometimes at 4:30 a.m., and they say, ‘I want to talk to Alicia Keys.’ “

Quoteworthy

Vivica A. Fox, on her split with rapper 50 Cent: “I really don’t know what I did that made us break up. It was sad, because I really cared for him, but I still wish him well. But I will never publicly put down a black man.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Pat Harrington (“One Day at a Time”) is 75. Singer Don Ho is 74. Actor Kevin Tighe (“Emergency”) is 60. Singer Dan Fogelberg is 53. Actor/radio host Danny Bonaduce is 45. Actress Quinn Cummings (“Family”) is 37. Country singer Andy Griggs is 31.