Why Beyoncé's Topshop Clothes Will Stand Out in the Crowded Athleisure Market
@Beyonce/Instagram
We’ve seen what Alexander Wang had to offer for H&M, have watched as Net-a-Porter has launched a sport division, and designers like Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci have continually referenced “the street” as their source of inspiration. (Even Nike has committed to cool workout clothes with a designer bent.) As of today, a major pop icon is entering the athletic street wear arena. Get ready to bow down for the Beyoncé for Topshop line.
As reported in WWD, the new venture is a 50-50 partnership between Topshop and the performer’s Parkwood Entertainment. “This is not a collaboration,” Sir Philip Green told the publication. “This about building a brand and building a business—a separate, proper business with separate overhead and a separate office.”
According to Green, the joint venture will also have its own creative director and two designers (one for fashion, one for fitness). The first collection — which is slated to include “clothing, footwear and accessories across dance, fitness and sports categories” — will reportedly hit stores next Fall. What does this mean for the masses? Will we see riffs off the workout gear that Bey wore in the “Pretty Hurts” video? Or the bra-and-parachute pants of her Destiny’s Child days? Whatever it is we are BEY-ond excited.
We asked fashion stylist and expert Mary Alice Stephenson why this collection could revolutionize the way that brands and celebrities will work together in the future.
1. Beyoncé Is An Original: “Beyoncé put athletic leisure wear on the map,” says Stephenson. “She started doing that way before Rihanna came to town. Plus brands like Tophsop don’t just want a model, they want authentic voices to show the world how they are living in the clothes. Beyoncé has been a customer for a long time.”
2. She’s Putting Her Money Where Her Mouth Is: The Parkwood Topshop Athletic Ltd. partnership marks the first time that a celebrity and a brand have created a new company together that is split down the middle. Beyoncé knows herself and oversees everything. She would never go through all of this trouble unless she it made sense for her and was a natural extension of her brand. “She’s not just another celeb getting paid to be the face,” says Stephenson. “She’s actually making it part of her business model.”
3. The Power of Social Selling: “The bottom line is that she’s one of the biggest stars in the world and anything that she creates is going to sell out,” says Stephenson. “She’s already a fan of the brand so will most likely be wearing whatever she makes and she will put it on any of her social media channels and it will sell. Social selling is the way forward for retail. Plus, it’s a great partnership with the brand that understands what the masses want and they know how to deliver fashion-forward clothing in a timely manner. And people can afford it! It’s a win-win.”
4. Bey Knows How to Dress Curves: There are a lot of cute one-offs collaborations but do the clothes actually ever fit properly? “Beyoncé understands body shape,” says Stephenson. “She has curves and she has a huge following of women that are all shapes and sizes. It’s not going to just be this school of ‘it girl’ skinny minnies that she’s dressing. Throughout the years her body shape has changed before our eyes. She gets the power of curves.”
5. She’s No Design Newbie: Beyoncé knows clothes. Aside from collaborating with almost every designer under the sun for her tours and her red carpet looks (think Givenchy, Diesel, Versace, plus lesser-known labels like Vrettos Vrettakos — who her stylist found on Facebook), this isn’t her first foray into design. She launched House of Deréon with her mother, Tina Knowles, in 2004. “Every seasoned designer has had wins and failures,” says Stephenson. “She has had experience making clothes and understands the production cycle.”
