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Roksanda IlinÄiÄ discovered her dress would be Beyoncé’s billowing blue opening look on the London leg of her Renaissance Tour just after the 40,000-strong audience did. “The loudest crowd so far” screamed from every corner of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and blasted it over social media.
“It was a very, very big surprise,” IlinÄiÄ says, still elated the day after Monday’s night concert; the first of five shows in the capital. “The looks were all submitted before the tour started, and then it’s up to the team and Beyoncé herself to decide what is worn when. We actually didn’t know when the moment was going to happen.”
The Serbian designer, 47, was not there but, as luck would have it, a gaggle of her design team were. “We were with them on FaceTime watching everything and just being super, super proud. Living the dream really.”
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It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for them all. The London Fashion Week stalwart — a staple of the schedule since launching her label in 2005 — only received the call for custom looks from Beyoncé’s stylist, Karen Langley, a month and a half ago. A team of six powered through 100 hours of sewing in two weeks to get the job done.
“It was quite a quick turnaround, I must say. For bespoke pieces, the timelines are longer, but they had a very precise idea of what they wanted, and what the tour would be about. Now it’s easy to understand all of them, but at the time it was just words and explanations,” she says. “Futuristic elements, beautiful gowns, something that should really make a big impact on the stage.”
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IlinÄiÄ certainly delivered that brief. The International Klein Blue silk chiffon gown fluttered behind the singer as wind machines blasted, and an ethereal padded wire structure appeared to defy gravity. She was wrapped up in a matching gloved catsuit; a perfect foil for the hefty, custom Tiffany & Co. twisted collar silver and diamond necklace which finished the outfit.
“We’ve been working very fast around the clock to make this happen, but with loads of enthusiasm and love,” the designer says. “To see it actually on stage and in its full glory, on somebody as inspirational as Mrs. Carter — it’s just really a dream come true.”
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Prior to this week, her most cherished memory of the singer was taking her daughter to the On the Run II Tour, performed with husband Jay-Z in London five years ago. “I can’t wait to take her to this concert as well. The example she sets is so wonderful as a mother and a leader in so many things. She is everything that a modern Queen should be, with a message of inclusivity, and support for women - support for everybody that needs support,” says IlinÄiÄ.
For this reason, creating Beyoncé’s headline look was not only important to her as an individual and business, but also for reflecting what her label represents: women making clothing for women. It comes as the designer believes gender equality in the fashion industry is slipping back.
“There was a time when those things changed a little bit, but lately, we’re all going back to the things we wanted to change and make better before Corona,” she says. “Having somebody like Beyoncé supporting female artists, and talking and singing about that to millions of people is great,” she says. “Great because there is still a lot to be done.”
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The outfit itself was a continuation of one of her autumn/winter 2023 collection closing looks, first shown to an exclusive set of top fashion editors in Claridges’ French Salon in February. “I loved the freedom to be able to use some strong references from my collection and transform them into something that they needed. We started to propose different ideas, different shapes, and adapted everything to the stage - we were literally talking with her team on a daily basis on a Whatsapp line.”
It was IlinÄiÄ’s initial mood board for this collection that caught Beyoncé’s team’s eye. At its core was the intersection of man and machine; a conversation which has since intensified, as the debate around AI’s potential threat to humanity crescendos. “We were talking about technology, about the future, and making our lives much, much faster than maybe we would like,” she says. “That futuristic element made it a very good fit for the Renaissance Tour.”
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The finale runway dresses — all saturated shade, sculpturesque gowns with undulating wiring — were a direct reference to Japanese artist Atsuko Tanaka’s ‘Electric Dress’; a 1956 creation made entirely of lightbulbs, as a statement on modernism and optimism in post-war Japan. “The light bulbs used in Tanaka’s dress were reimagined in a totally new way; into these soft, wavy parts that were coming in and out of the dresses, like the one featured on stage,” the designer explains. For Beyoncé, they took the show look as a base, before exaggerating proportions and adding a high-drama, five metre train.
Less obvious on the eye is its intricate construction, a nod to the Roksanda DNA. “As a designer, I never liked to constrict the female body. Rather than using too much support, with boning or petticoats, I suspended the dress with one single wire that went through the 3D elements of a dress. The rest was all suspended with the tension of the fabrics,” she says. “I’m really proud of this. It talks back to women and trying to shelter them and protect them rather than constrain them. This is something I’ve been doing since day one.”
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Hours in the studio perfecting this balance came full circle when the megawatt star belted her opening tracks, a mix of Dangerously In Love, Flaws and All, 1+1, and I Care, followed by a tribute to Tina Turner, on stage. “It was beautiful to see it actually working fully in the concert, when you need structure to support everything,” IlinÄiÄ says. “There was a special feminine, soft touch to the whole dress — it was floating around Beyoncé like a cloud.”