Beyoncé collaborating with Balmain for 'Renaissance Couture'
MANILA, Philippines — Award-winning singer Beyoncé has collaborated with Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing for a new couture collection inspired by her latest album "Renaissance."
This is the first time that a Black woman has overseen a couture offering from the French luxury fashion house, compounded by the fact Olivier was the first Black man ever to oversee collections at an historic Parisian house.
The news comes following recent reports that Beyoncé had ended her partnership with Adidas wherein she further developed her Ivy Park athletics and streetwear brand.
Beyoncé graced the cover of Vogue France's April 2023 cover donning one of the new collection's outfits, a black curve-hugging bodysuit and velvet hat all covered in rhinestones.
In the cover story penned by Luke Leitch, Olivier shared that instead of finalizing Balmain’s spring 2023 collection last year the fashion designer was busy obsessing over "Renaissance."
"I was sketching and sketching as I listened, and sometimes you can’t control the emotion of your sketch," said Olivier. "And I started to imagine the sketches inside her album, how they would relate to the songs and the lyrics — it wasn’t something I was supposed to be doing but I was just inspired by the music to do it."
Upon returning from a holiday Olivier reached out to Beyoncé's stylist Marni Senofonte and pitched a couture collection based on the "Renaissance"-inspired sketches he kept making.
"My hope was that she would be up for something even beyond the work we have done together before… I wanted us to be co-designers," Olivier added, happy that Beyoncé agreed to the partnership.
Over five months Olivier, Beyoncé, and Marni finalized the Balmain x Beyoncé couture collection, trimming an initial 50 down to 16 final looks, each of them inspired by a song or lyric on "Renaissance" which coincidentally has 16 tracks.
Features in the final looks include hammered metal breastplates, 3D-printed bustiers, luxe velvets, meticulously embroidered gowns, and a wearable crystal chandelier; two of these looks had actually already debuted at this year’s Grammy Awards and the BRIT Awards.
In an statement, Beyoncé called Olivier a "dream collaborator and a constantly innovating and evolving creative," and on her official Instagram account express her gratitude to the designer for "bringing 'Renaissance' to life in couture."
"Designing alongside you was freeing — thank you for allowing me to celebrate the human form, to take artistic risks, to push boundaries and to freely express myself," Beyoncé ended.
After becoming the most-awarded artist at the Grammys last February, Beyonce is set to embark on her "Renaissance World Tour," beginning in Sweden before going around Europe then to North America.
