Instead of releasing her much-anticipated 6th studio album after breaking the Internet with the think-piece detonating Formation, the song and music video she released in February, iconic American singer Beyoncé Knowles, as usual without any warning to the world, launched another venture on April 1 – a performance wear clothing label named Ivy Park in association with giant British retailer, Topshop.
“Ivy Park is merging fashion-led design with technical innovation. Creating a new kind of performance wear: modern essentials for both on and off the field,” it says on the brand’s newly-launched website.
Consisting of leggings, leotards, headbands, hoodies, crop tops t-shirts and slip on shoes, the athleisure (when gym clothes are worn as casual wear outside of the gym) wear brand, worn by Beyoncé and her squad of good looking women breaking sweat in the brand’s short film, will be sold at exclusive department stores and selected Topshop stores worldwide from April 14 2016.
In the film, Beyoncé makes exercise look like a walk in the park and shares memories of the Texas park that inspired the brand’s name, a place she grew up running and playing in, a place she returns to at every milestone in her life, such as when she gave birth to 4-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, who also appears in the video sitting on her mother’s back wearing children’s Ivy Park gear.
It’s unknown whether the bold new brand will be available at one or more of South Africa’s six Topshop stores – but knowing the size of the Beyhive here, the colloquial term for Beyoncé militant and dedicated fans, we might just be lucky enough to be part of this formation.