A Look at the Beyonce x Balmain Renaissance Couture

Beyoncé has continuously been an innovator in the music scene. From pioneering the modern definition of visual albums in 2007 with B-Day to her surprise release strategy in 2013 with the eponymously titled Beyoncé. However, from House of Deréon in 2005 to Ivy Park, her streak of industry-leading excellence hasn’t previously translated to her fashion ventures. On Friday however, that all changed. 

Just 24 hours after the end of her Ivy Park collaboration with Adidas was announced, we were introduced to Renaissance Couture. The idea of a collaborative collection started when Balmain’s long standing creative director and friend of Beyonce, Olivier Rousteing reached out to her stylist Marni Senofonte and Beyoncé with the idea. Like many Beyoncé fans he was enthralled with and inspired by the album, sketching pieces that each song evoked all summer before reaching out with an offer of being co-designers.

Rousteing and Knowles-Carter have worked together in the past, with her as his muse for various award shows and red carpets. He also designed the costumes for her 2018 Coachella (nicknamed Beychella) and her Formation world tour. This time however, she was heavily involved in the design process providing equal level creative contribution. Thus began the over six months partnership between the pair, along with Senofonte, producing over 50 looks that they edited down to 16, matching the number of songs on the album.

Each look was not only named after a song, but the collection notes included a paragraph by Rousteing detailing how the lyrics and musicality inspired each part of the construction. “With a pious title cleverly paired with RENAISSANCE’s most explicit lyrics, CHURCH GIRL makes it clear that it’s time to let go.”

In classic Beyonce fashion this collection is a history-maker. “This appears to be the first time that a Black woman has overseen the couture offering from an historic Parisian house. And those designs were created in partnership with the first Black man to ever oversee all the collections at a historic Parisian house.” Rousteing remarks. He hopes this inspires others to pursue their dreams.

Unbeknownst to us, Beyonce gave us a preview of the collection with her BRITs and Grammys looks, which were cited at the time as just custom Balmain pieces.

It may seem an odd pairing as Knowles-Carter, unlike other musicians, is rarely in attendance at Couture week, but truly what is Beyoncé’s music process if not couture? Extremely high quality, unique, trend-leading, and timeless.  

It is truly beautiful to see Beyonce produce clothing that aligns with the beauty and dedication to artistry that she is known for in her music. Ahead of her world tour I was already excited for her costumes and now I’m even more excited to see what she wears and what fashion project she produces next.

You can read more GUAP fashion articles like this here.