The Story Behind The Forthcoming Beyoncé X Balmain Limited #Beychella Collection

It has not been very long since Beyonce transformed Coachella to Beychella with her iconic performance.

While practising in with her dancers in their Balmain-made looks inspired by the marching band uniforms of America’s historically black colleges and universities, Beyoncé Knowles and Olivier Rousteing, the creative director for Balmain, had an idea.

Why not make a Beyoncé x Balmain collection that will offer Bey fans a piece of history?

INDIO, CA – APRIL 14: Beyonce Knowles performs onstage during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 14, 2018 in Indio, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Coachella/AFP

In a statement, Balmain creative director Olivier Rousteing explained the significance behind the Balmain and Beyoncé limited-edition collection:

“When she saw all the dancers loving the outfit—and she was loving her own outfit—she realised that what we were creating on stage for her, for all the dancers, was something really impactful.”

Beyoncé became the first Black woman ever to headline the music festival. She not only displayed a celebration of the Black college experience (specifically HBCUs), her performance also championed feminism, Blackness, activism, and her family, all while wearing a custom Balmain hoodie.

This Friday, July 13, that same hoodie, available in both yellow and pink, along with a black T-shirt featuring a sorority-inspired graphic, will go on sale.

Balmain is set to launch the three-piece Balmain x Beyoncé collection in its Paris flagship. The items will go on sale on balmain.com and beyonce.com the following day.

Proceeds from the collaboration will benefit the United Negro College Fund. This follows Beyoncé’s $100,000 donation to four historically black colleges after her Coachella set.

Beyonce x Balmain sweatshirts. Photo: Balmain

Rousteing says,

“The donation was the main goal of this collaboration. We don’t forget where we come from. This is really, really important — I come from an orphanage, you know. I think there is something really emotional about our collaboration.”

The designer continued:

“I worked really long with her on the Beychella moments, and the fact that we can release this collaboration that is based on our creativity, Beyoncé and I, is really a big, big step for fashion and music together.”

“Beyoncé, she’s such a perfectionist; she’s someone that is so strong and has such a great point of view. She’s about feminism, empowering women, and the idea of bringing that collaboration where we can share the same ideas, the same vision of music, the same vision of fashion, the same vision of what is going on in the world, it’s more than just clothes. It’s a strong message, and I’m really proud to be a part of that.”

Beyonce performing at Coachella. Photo: Black News and Information

“Sometimes, you create a moment, and it’s just one moment. With the clothes that we are creating now, it’s going to be a moment that keeps going and going and going. This is something really important. Everybody is always telling me about millennials or about the future—this is the future. This is making sure that these iconic moments talk to the young people. This is something important and this collaboration is talking to the new generation and saying you can get that piece, you can be a part of the history.”

Rousteing hopes that the partnership will inspire the fashion world to break down its walls a little bit and utilise some of the communication and community of the music world to reach beyond the front row, concluding:

“What I learned the whole time working with Beyoncé is that fashion is a really, really small world, and music is a really big global world, and when music and fashion meet each other, it becomes a strong world together. An entire nation.”

Beyonce Wearing A Beyonce’s Coat Of Arms Inscribed Top. Photo credit: Pinterest

Balmain x Beyoncé will be available on July 13 at Balmain’s Paris flagship and from July 14 online and at select retailers. The tee will go for $290 (N104,690) and sweatshirts from $550–$1,790 (N198,550-N646190).