For the Beyoncé Bowl, every boot, hat, and belt buckle held a deeper meaning
For every major Beyoncé moment we've experienced in the last three decades, there's always been a standout look to match. Her solo debut in 2003 was defined by a simple white tank top and denim shorts while other career tentpole events – like bashing a car with a baseball bat in a ruffled, yellow Roberto Cavalli gown for the "Hold Up" music video, or the chromatic colour scheme of 2023's Renaissance tour – have helped shape core memories that her fanbase holds dear.
By now, more than 27 million people (and counting) tuned in to see the pop star's Christmas Day NFL Halftime show (also known as the Beyoncé Bowl) where she performed songs from her acclaimed eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter, for the first time in her hometown of Houston, Texas. The 13-minute show was executed to perfection, with buzzy appearances from collaborators such as Shaboozey and Post Malone, the entire Texas Southern University marching band and even her own daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
The production included a performance crew of more than 500 individuals that commanded the field of Houston's NRG Stadium in their best winter whites, all carefully curated by Beyoncé's head stylist, Shiona Turini. For months, Turini worked with luxury houses like Roberto Cavalli and Dolce & Gabbana, historic American brands like Levi's and Stetson, and even independent makers like Lindsey James Show Clothing to curate the performance that would instantly define the Cowboy Carter era.
“Because this was the first Cowboy Carter performance, it still felt like an introduction to the album, visually in a way,” Turini tells Harper's Bazaar in an exclusive interview following the halftime show. “Beyoncé is very intentional and the wardrobe [for this show] was so layered and a compilation of themes and references, much like the album itself.”
Ahead, Turini breaks down what it took to costume the already legendary performance, trading references with Beyoncé, and the best advice that Miss Tina Knowles has ever given her.
We have to start off by discussing what Beyoncé wore. I was so excited to see Roberto Cavalli be a part of this moment because the brand is one that has been by her side since the beginning. Why was Cavalli right for this massive homecoming show?
Well, just the coat was Cavalli, which a lot of people haven't realised — but I knew this interview was coming so I was like, well, we'll address that then! You're correct — they have been collaborating for decades, the house and Bey, and one of their most iconic collections was a really heavily western-inspired collection. We actually have alerts with different archivists and vintage dealers, so anytime something from that collection pops up, we try to get first dibs on it. They custom-made the coat and she wanted to do this grand entrance — and Bey is very specific and intentional, very Virgo. For the most part, she knows what she wants. She will pull her own references. We go back and forth on references, so it's very, very collaborative, but she's pretty direct and knows exactly how she wants to look on a day, whether it's for an event or for a performance. So it was always about opening in a grand coat on this horse. But for the outfit, we collaborated with an authentic Western show clothing designer, Lindsey James Show Clothing, and paired that with the jewels courtesy of Lorraine Schwartz and the sparkling Christian Louboutin boots.
Lindsey has a small studio and she is an equestrian; she started making show clothing in college to help pay for her riding lessons. Back in February or March, Bey had sent me a reference of this beautiful embellished, authentic piece of show clothing, and I tried to track down the maker and it led us to an expo in Arizona. So the team went to the expo and we were able to meet the authentic hat makers and boot makers. It's actually where we purchased the saddle that was in the first Cowboy Carter announcement. That first expo led us to a lot of authentic craftsmen and builders and makers in the western community. We have had a relationship with Lindsey James since then. When we came up with the idea for the halftime look, she was so welcoming and open to collaborate with us on a crystal embellished piece to introduce Cowboy Carter for this live performance.
We've been able to see how the western show clothing companies really work — how they style it, what feels a little bit out of their wheelhouse. For western show clothing, everything has to be high-neck and very covered, and so we had a version that was that, but of course we have to Beyoncé-ify it. We made it off the shoulder and they usually would not do a white embellished chap, so we designed that. She sort of coached our builders and our crystallisers and the people that we work with in-house to produce a lot of these things. We were able to come up with this beautiful piece of western show clothing with a twist. The women that make this clothing, it's already one-of-a-kind. They don't duplicate typically – it's basically their version of couture. So we wanted to stay true to that, but turn it into something that would make a statement and feel like Beyoncé.
Every time I watch this performance I see a new detail I didn't notice the time before, which speaks to everyone involved in this production. There were so many elements of Texan culture, rodeo culture, themes of spirituality with the all white looks — there are so many layers. There were even little tiny details where I think Beyoncé was referencing herself. I'd love to hear how through the clothes you incorporated all of these details and themes to tell the overarching story of the performance.
This show was a reclamation of space as well as a visual love letter to Black cowboys, country music icons, Texas legends and Black culture. The wardrobe was so layered and a compilation of themes and references, much like the album itself.
When Beyoncé informed me that she wanted white to be the primary colour I thought about how much the colour white represents — it's deeply spiritual, its the colour of the women's suffrage movement, and for generations Black, indigenous and Latin cultures have used white as a solidarity colour. For me it also represented the 'Lone Star' that rests on the Texas flag. Adorned by the cast it was a reminder that Black people are a critical part of Texas history and culture.
The conversations were always evolving. The furry chaps on the dancers was definitely a nod to Black cowboys, the studded Levi's jeans, the nod to that incredible image of Linda Martel [from Ebony magazine] sitting on the fence. It was about exploring what it means to be Black in the western space and paying homage.
I also saw on Instagram you posted a reference to Pimp C in a white fur outfit which was incredible.
That was a big reference! And that was a nod to her version of Texas culture. The band directors – that was one of my favourite costumes. We dressed 504 people and we dressed everyone except for Shaboozey and Post Malone. When she sent me the Pimp C reference I was like, yep, I could do that.
Everyone in the band looked amazing.
Those kids were so cool and they were down for anything. They were so polite and incredible. They were like, yeah, the fur and the hat, that might be a little bit hard, but we'll get it done! The first rehearsal I was screaming, it all looked so incredible. We did fringed sweatpants for them because we wanted to have that relaxed, cool edge to them with the fur coat. So we used Alo sweatpants and we added suede fringe to the sides. It just felt cool and edgy. That was definitely one of my favourite costumes of the whole day.
I also wanted to point out a very specific look that I loved, and the internet was loving, which was on the cowboy leading Beyoncé and the horse at the beginning of the show in the Willy Chavarria denim. That blew my mind. I loved that Willy was involved because he is a designer that has such an amazing interpretation of what it means to be Brown and Black in America. Even though it was just a pair of jeans, it means so much more.
It's never just a pair of jeans! It's an aesthetic, it's a vibe. It's a nod to the culture. We actually used Willy on a lot of the cowboys because it just felt right. I loved that entrance. Probably in February when we started this research, we found a young girl just through eBay who makes very interesting hats, and she gets really creative with it. We worked with her to do this bandana hat and then had the idea to cover their faces, so it could be anyone— your brother, your father, any man in America – and I love how that looked. We got to experiment and push it stylistically a bit more with the cowboys since they weren't performing, so we didn't have to worry about the performance element of the clothes and got to have a little bit of fun.
Because you've been so deep in this world for so long now, what does it take to find the perfect cowboy hat and the perfect cowboy boot? These are products that have a lot of craftsmanship behind them.
They really do. Someone on my team sent me a tweet that said, 'I want to know how these hats stayed on the dancer's heads!' And I was like, prayer! That was something that we had to test so much. We didn't want any hats flying. We worked with Stetson for the dancers and for Blue Ivy and the cowboys. They make beautiful hats. They are a go-to, especially in the fashion industry, because they're so well crafted. They're still a small company that are hand-making these beautiful hats. For Bey, she wanted something a little bit more oversized and a statement. So we worked with ASN and they are two sisters out of Texas. It's always fun to work with women designers in these spaces because they still know what's sexy and what's interesting — they'll say let's do it in leather and play around with fabrics. As someone who doesn't really ever wear hats — I'm not a hat person — I have had to really get into the game for cowboy hats and cowboy boots. There's so many that I love. You can have a fashion boot or a functional boot — they're very different. For Bey, especially for a performance, it also has to just be a boot that she can actually dance in. That's always the challenge. The challenge is what feels fashion-forward and new and cool, but also truly functional — because the show must go on!
Blue was also an incredible highlight of the night, too. What was it like crafting her look? Especially since she was a part of the dancers but had her own special outfit.
When Bey said she wanted everyone in white, I knew we had to look at different textures, different patterns, different accents – whether it was fringe, suede, crystals, American flags— you really have to lean into the elements that are going to make each section feel different so it doesn't feel repetitive. But for Blue, you can play around with her options because she will be different from anyone else no matter what. We did want Blue and Bey to have some sort of connection in their costumes, so we had the custom rodeo style belts that the brand FROLOV made for us in addition to Blue's look. With Blue we get to have a lot of fun because it's just one independent special costume, and ultimately she makes the final choice. I was happy that she chose that, and I think she looked great.
Coming from the Renaissance tour last year and the fashion feat that was, to this halftime show, what are some of the biggest logistical differences of crafting these massive performance wardrobes?
The biggest difference is that, number one, I had never done performance costuming in my life until I did Renaissance. So going into this project, personally, I have more experience now. For the tour, there were four stylists and for this performance, I was the head stylist and built my amazing team out from there. I had Erica Rice, who would help me with styling any sort of special builds, whether it was the cowboys or the Blackbird singers or any special acts. Molly Peters assisted me with styling our special characters like Beyoncé’s house band – who were another one of my faves – the Texans Cheerleaders, my cowboys and cowgirls and more. Ann Marie Hoang supported me with all of the dancers, band, majorettes, our choir and musicians. And we of course had our supervisors Melanie Wainwright and Chelsea Staebell; Timothy White who is our head of design and execution; and my assistant costume designer, who has been with me not only through this project but also Renaissance world tour, Tara Greville. We couldn’t have done it without them and our tailors who worked tirelessly, the assistants, the production assistants, everyone.
On the tour, I don't know if we went into it knowing that there would be so many wardrobe changes, but that's what happened. So we were working every single day to get the next show ready. I think for Bey, she had almost 150 costumes, and so with those changes, you have to have co-ordinating dancer costumes. For this, it was a huge volume because of the number of cast. You're doing it for 500 people, and it is a process — like maybe this was the original design, but it was not working out or it didn't stand out enough or didn't feel different enough to another category of dancers that we had to dress, etc. The volume was there, it was just different, but we got it done.
Whether it was for dress rehearsals or for the actual show, how does it feel to see this massive moment — these 504 people! — all come together when you've been working on this for so long?
On a day that I was incredibly stressed out prepping for Renaissance, Miss Tina had to talk me off a ledge. She's also such a great resource for wardrobe. She always steps in, she always helps out. She'll help out with styling, she'll help out with sourcing fabric. She'll go try to find hats and boots. She's in it, and I love working with her. And so for Renaissance, I got really stressed out one day and she was like, 'I know this is really hard, but nothing will prepare you for how you will feel when you see this on stage.' And she was right. It's an incredible feeling. And I felt that way for the performance. It's a sacrifice. You're giving up being with your family and working till the end of the year.
To see it all come together with a team that worked so hard, it's a very special feeling. However, I am a Virgo and I have to remind myself to stay in that moment and celebrate the win and not slide into that feeling of I should have done this differently. I should have added more of this. Oh my God, I forgot about this belt buckle. I have to fight that urge to always think that I could have done better. So it's a mix. It's a mix of those type of emotions. But in those moments when I'm watching... This time, I did really feel like, wow, this looks amazing.
It is incredible to be on a team and work for a woman who's so creative and pushes so many boundaries and is so passionate about the styling and the looks and wants it to be collaborative. She respects my ideas, but also truly, truly, truly pushes me and challenges me. When you see the end result, you're like, OK, that was all worth it. We paid homage to Black cowboys and country music icons and Texas, and I don't take it for granted that there's not a lot of opportunities as a creative to be able to work in this way and in this space and with these people. So, I'm happy that everyone seems to have received it so well. I'm even happy to have this conversation to be able to speak to people about it.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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