With the release of his new album (and, in particular, that song about Tom Ford), Jay Z seems to be keen on upping his fashion cred--and the fashion industry is happy to oblige.

Tom Ford recently spoke out about how much he loves his namesake song, noting that Jay has long been a loyal client. The rapper's love of Theory button-downs has recently been thoroughly documented. And now there are rumors he's in talks to collaborate with the fashiony-est of department stores, Barneys.

According to WWD (who usually doesn't make this stuff up), Barneys has "held secret talks" with Jay about a future collaboration, perhaps on an upcoming holiday campaign.

That would make sense--the past few holiday seasons have seen the luxury retailer collaborating with major celebrities--from Lady Gaga to Minnie Mouse--on huge, larger-than-life events and campaigns. Clearly, Jay Z likes to do things big, and is about as much of a New York institution as Barneys is. He'd also likely bring more male attention to the retailer than its previous campaign stars.

Though why not bring it up a notch and add Beyoncé to the mix? That would be pretty epic.

We reached out to Barneys for comment and will report back when we know more.