Spilling the lemonade! If you’re not able to make the Formation World Tour, Beyoncé’s giving backstage access to the ins and outs of her tour wardrobe.
The “Sorry” singer, 34, enlisted costume designer Marni Senofonte to scope out looks for the 49-show tour that spans North America and Europe. “The process for designing this tour came from the beginning of the project, which was the movie,” Senofonte said, referring to the “Formation” music video that dropped in early February. “There was a very antebellum feel to the film. We went back to New Orleans, we had this Victorian street wear.”
Eyob Yohannes, Senofonte’s assistant, said that the search for looks began once tour plans were set in motion, and designers including Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli, Gucci and Dsquared2 courted Beyoncé’s team with their best ideas. Senofonte revealed that the singer was hands-on throughout the whole selection process, scanning through design sketches along her team and ultimately deciding what she wanted.
An obvious winner was Balmain. While sifting through a rack of couture, the French fashion house earned praise from the Queen herself. “Wow, alright!” she exclaimed, fawning over a ruffled white lace bodysuit. “Somebody came through. That’s so pretty!”
Bey also tried on one of her huge hats, as seen in the “Formation” video and at the CFDA Fashion Awards 2016. “Nowhere in the world do they make these hats,” Senofonte told Beyoncé. “This hat maker literally drove to Mexico to buy sombreros.”
Beyoncé’s dancers get VIP treatment, too. Workers were shown dyeing the dancers’ nude fishnet stockings in a Crock-Pot, as the singers all have different skin tones.
“It’s so exciting to see something that has been in your mind, that you’ve been working so hard [on],” Senofonte revealed. “All of it kind of goes away when you’re just sitting there and you’re living in it for those two hours.”
