House of
Deréon
"I grew up in a
fabric store. Unfortunately my
mother would say: 'Come on let's go to the
fabric store,' and she would make
all of these beautiful clothes for myself
and the other ladies of Destiny's
Child, and after so many years my fans
said we want to buy these clothes
somewhere, so it was a natural thing for
us to do this line, and it's so great
for us to be able to do it together,
number one because we get to spend time
together, and two because we have
such respect for each other’s'
taste."
Beyoncé Knowles talking about the
House of
Deréon.[1]
Expanding the brand, Beyoncé
and her sister Solange
Knowles
launched the less expensive junior line Deréon. Deréon was
introduced in 2006.
The tag line for Deréon is "Where the sidewalk and
catwalk meet". This line
includes more casualwear, such as sweatpants and
embroidered hooded sweatshirts.
Both women are models for both clothing
lines and are featured on most marketing
campaigns. In 2007, members of
Beyoncé's touring band, Suga Mama, appeared in
ads.
House of Deréon was announced to the
media in
September 2004, by Tina and Beyoncé Knowles, House of Deréon's
tagline is
"Couture.Kick.Soul" which represents the three generation of
women. Agnèz Deréon
is the "soul," Tina Knowles is the "couture," and
Beyonce is the "kick." While
Beyoncé was performing in the group Destiny's
Child,
her mother Tina would design and sew their outfits,
especially when the group
was first starting out and did not have much
money or access to designer
clothing. Part of what called attention to
Destiny's Child, besides their
obvious talent, was their one-of-a-kind
fashions. Their style set them apart,
yet gave the group cohesion as a
similar style, color or garment was worn by all
the
members.
The fashion line was first
introduced on
The
Oprah Winfrey Show,
and was also featured on The Tyra Banks
Show.
The clothing mixes hip-hop influences, such as its use
of denim, with
ultrafeminine flourishes like embroidery and ruffles. In an
interview with
Ebonymagazine Beyoncé said "I love the clothes from
the '70s, my mother's
clothes. I love clothes from the '40s, my
grandmother's style, so elegant. We
wanted to take elements from my
grandmother's legacy—the beaded lace, lush
colors, fine fabrics—and mix
them with. N clothes from my mother's generation
and my
generation.”
Often featured, such
as on the back pockets
tissemand of jeans, is the agu (this is often
confused with the fleur de lis which
is commonly featured on the back pockets of Deréon jeans (introduced in
2006,
House of Deréon's junior line.) Additionally in the line's design are
styles
that allude to Agnèz Deréon's era, such as retro pencil
skirts. It
is reported that Beyoncé has an active role in the House
of Deréon's design
department, approving and discussing fashion designs and
ideas. As for the
line's latest venture, Beyonce and her mom have designed
a collection of
vintage-inspired dresses that will be available at
Bloomingdale's. The line is
based on 1950s-style dresses that Beyonce wore
for her role as Etta James in the
film Cadillac
Records.
Beyoncé also mentions the
clothing line in the
song "Get
Me Bodied",
from the album B'Day,
and in
her song "Single
Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", from the 2008 album I
Am... Sasha Fierce. House of Dereon
Goes Global LF USA
Acquires Beyond
Productions.
London
launch
Following her appearance at New
York Fashion Week, Beyoncé traveled to
London,
England, to
debut
the House of Deréon Autumn/Winter "Global Nomad" collection at Selfridges
during
London Fashion
Week. Celebrities like Chipmunk,
Ellie
Goulding,
Alexandra
Burke,
and Rita Ora
attended on the show. Beyoncé
Knowles appeared wearing a black sequin suit with
her mother Tina Knowles
on stage. During an interview with CNN,
Beyoncé
Knowles revealed the inspiration behind her Autumn/Winter
collection
saying,
"This collection
was inspired by a lot of my
travels. I did a world tour, I traveled to
Asia, Brazil, all over the world and
I saw such beauty and my mother
traveled with me and we decided we should mix
these great cultures together
and make something original and beautiful, and
this show celebrates the
global nomad, and one day at the rate we're going which
is such a beautiful
thing, there won't be all these different races we'll all
just be mixed up
and beautiful and that is so wonderful exciting and refreshing
you know we
have the mixtures of the African hair wraps and some of the Asian
prints
and we mix it with different textures sequins and gold jewelry and it
just
becomes very refreshing.
September 17,
2011 marked the official launch in
London at Selfridges of House of Deréon
International Collection by Beyoncé and
Tina Knowles via a fashion show
featuring both the Autumn-Winter and Holiday
2011 collections. The House of
Deréon fashion collection launch at Selfridges is
a global exclusive - the
line was previously only available in the
USA.
House of Deréon North
American
relaunch
In 2012,
House of Deréon will be revitalized
with new clothing designs that will
range from chic ready-to-wear to more
upscale sophisticated clothing. The
brand will also include a new design team
with Tina Knowles still remaining
as head
designer.