Beyoncé and Balmain Team Up For Renaissance Couture
Beyoncé and Balmain Creative Director Olivier Rousteing have teamed up to create a 16-piece haute couture collection. Each design is inspired by the 16 tracks on the album Renaissance.
Beyoncé x Balmain
The idea came about when Rousteing couldn’t stop listening to the album while on vacation, he told Vogue. The designer would find himself creating endless sketches, tapping into the emotions of each song. Soon after, Beyoncé received a phone call from Rousteing, saying, “honestly, I want to create a couture collection with you.” The rest is history.
Beyoncé herself had direct involvement in the six-monthlong process as Co-designer for the collection. The singer acknowledged Rousteing in an Instagram post, stating, “designing alongside you was freeing — thank you for allowing me to celebrate the human form, to take artistic risks, to push boundaries and freely express myself.”
The collection debuted on the cover of Vogue France, with Beyoncé wearing a crystal-studded velvet gown and complimentary saucer hat based upon the track HEATED. The lyric “Uncle Johnny made my dress” refers to her now-deceased family member and fashion designer, to whom she dedicates the album. According to Rousteing, it was this lyric that prompted him to reach out to Beyoncé, hoping she would be “willing to build upon that beautiful family history.”
So far, we have seen the singer wear the dusty pink VIRGO’S GROOVE gown to the 65th GRAMMY Awards. Then, she gave her acceptance speech at the 2023 BRIT Awards dressed in the black-and-white outfit for PURE/HONEY. With Renaissance Couture being officially announced, we hope that Bey breaks through with another iconic look for the Met Gala.
A full gallery of the collection is available on the official Balmain site as well as notes about each design.
Featured image credit: Louie Banks