The Beyhive may still be buzzing from Beyonce’s visual album Lemonade dropping less than a week ago, but the Queen B herself is already on to the next thing: her world tour.
Beyonce’s Formation World Tour kicked off Wednesday at Marlins Park in Miami, where Beyonce debuted a host of custom designer looks onstage.
Beyonce Pays Tribute to Prince, Dedicates ‘Halo’ to Jay Z as Formation Tour Kicks Off in Miami
Billboard chatted exclusively with Dean and Dan Caten, the designer duo behind DSquared, who created Beyonce’s first look of the night.
How do you feel about your designs being the first onstage for the Formation Tour?
We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Beyonce following work with her on previous tours and most recently the Super Bowl. We knew she was going to open with “Formation,” so the look had to be powerful and strong. Silhouette was everything!
How was making this look different than making and designing the Super Bowl look?
Its funny how sometimes things have a serendipitous way of working — this look was an extension of what we created for our Fall/Winter 2016 collection, which was shown in Milan back in September. What Beyonce wanted was fully in line with the theme we were working on. We were creatively on the same page.
What was the collaboration process like?
Beyonce knows what she wants and was hands-on throughout the process. Our FW16 collection was in sync with her mood, so it made for a perfect collaboration. The look was Victorian in inspiration, which was what our Women’s Fall/Winter collection focused on. In fact, we named the collection “Major Victoria” to play on the military and Victorian themes.
How is the lace mesh you used for these designs different from lace you would use in a ready-to-wear collection?
For Beyonce, we added some additional embellished elements, but the core of the design remained quite similar.
What are some of the main concerns you keep in mind when designing for a concert look?
Movement, movement, movement. Not only did we want Beyonce to look great, we wanted her to be free to do what she does best — wow us with her performance. Silhouette and shape are essential, and we added some crystals to the look for stage presence.
How did you balance cohesion between Beyonce and her background dancers’ looks while still allowing Beyonce to be the star?
We wanted the looks to complement one another. We created scaled-down versions of Beyonce’s look for her dancers, keeping the silhouette complementary. Beyonce wears corsets and puff sleeves, and dancers wear simple bodices with collars. We did this keeping in mind the nature of the performance — it’s essentially Beyonce and her army. It’s quite visually striking.
All photos courtesy of DSquared2