Queen Bey Turns Up the Style Volume With Her Designer Gear
Beyoncé and her music mogul husband, Jay Z are captivating audiences and the world with their On the Run Tour. This weekend Beyoncé, or Queen Bey as her loyal fans have dubbed her, is wrapping up the U.S. leg of her tour on the West Coast – first Los Angeles and early next week, San Francisco. Then the tour is off to Paris, France. But no worries, if the show didn’t visit your city, or you weren’t able to snag the pricey tickets, there’s still a chance to get a peek inside the tour via Beyoncé’s website or a blurred snippet shared from a fan’s cellphone.
As the On the Run Tour makes its way from the East Coast to the West Coast, it’s about time we start talking about the second most important element of the show, Beyoncé’s costumes. The first of course being the music. Paired with loose blowing hair and simple natural makeup, the emphasis was placed on the outfits and how they moved with her body. It’s no secret that Beyoncé likes a sexy leotard, loves to show some skin, and lives to give the audience the performance of a lifetime. As a designer of the On the Run Tour costumes, how does one encompass this while factoring in functionality with how good the costumes look?
Michael Costello, a Project Runway alum from Season 8, was one of the many designers who were up for the challenge. Costello previously worked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013) and was also the designer of the white lace dress Beyoncé wore to the 2014 Grammy Awards. Even though Costello was no newbie when it came to working with Beyoncé, he wanted to take things a step further. With her tune “Drunk in Love” blaring in his studio, Costello within a few days created two looks for the singer. One was a purple, silver and gold sequin top with a floral brief; the second look was a black lace bodysuit with bell sleeves. A thigh-high black leather boot set the whole look ablaze.
Alexander Wang, another veteran designer of a Beyoncé tour, created a black leather bondage bodysuit with a mesh, hooded bomber jacket. The body suit wrapped around her torso in a way that hugged all her curves in the right place. She wanted sexy, and Wang definitely gave it to her. Keeping with the all black theme, Atelier Versace also made her a black bodysuit. However, this one came with a plunging neckline and a black ski mask – so covert! This look keeps with the “On the Run” theme and can even be said to be the “headlining” look of the entire tour. Versace then decided to brighten it up with a multicolored bodysuit, which featured a Trojan-like headpiece embellished with a golden Medusa head in the middle.
Diesel and Elie Saab changed the dynamic of the costumes by adding a different flavor. Diesel went with an all denim number with a short denim jumpsuit. Added to it was a black belt with a large eagle as a buckle. Beyoncé also wore a black leather hat, which featured a matching silver eagle. Elie Saab, on the other hand, decided to take it “matrimonial style” and created a white wedding inspired jumpsuit for the show.
Of course we can’t forget the design house that provided some of the, dare I say, show stopping looks for the tour. Givenchy provided some of the sexiest, grandiose and most dramatic looks of the show. One look was a sparkling black bodysuit with the midsection cut out, which creating a provocative illusion. The second was a more patriotic piece, which featured a black bodysuit with a detachable black and white American flag skirt. The long train of the skirt stretched five meters long as it flowed in the wind.
Almost every look featured a black bodysuit of varying styles, paired with fishnet stockings. One would think that this would get old and redundant throughout the entire show. However, with the theme of this particular tour and the versatility of each designer, the looks worked perfectly. We know that this will not be Beyonce’s last tour and most likely these designers will create their costume magic again, and when that time comes, the challenge will continue to get tougher as they continue to design costumes that take Queen Bey to the next level.
Photo sources: beyonce-contour.com
