Harris Reed’s party trick is performing Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” dance. He learnt – and perfected it – as a youngster, and doesn’t care that it might be considered basic now. The song, like all of Queen B’s work, hits home. “As a young queer kid who came out in quite a conservative environment, hers is the music I’d play on the bus to school, when I was alone in the playground and eating my lunch by myself, dreaming of more of a glittering, romantic, fabulous world,” says Reed.

His deep connection to the spirit of the Beyhive reached new heights when Vogue’s Edward Enninful called the creative and asked if he could make a bespoke look – and an edit of club kid couture accessories – for Mrs Carter to wear in her July cover shoot. “I was literally speechless,” continues Reed. “She just means so much to me and my heart.”

The peacock feathers used to fashion Beyoncé’s dramatic headpiece, in fact, were leftovers from the fantastical headpiece Reed painstakingly made for Iman to wear to the Met Gala 2021. He bleached, re-dyed and then hand painted each plume a vibrant white colour during a 300-hour process that required him and his milliner Vivienne Lake to fasten them to a wire structure hand wrapped in silk thread. “The hats are a full-circle moment because they are how I started my career,” explains Reed. “The white hat, for me, is opulence. I wanted people to look at me and give me the space that is so well deserved.”

The other message of his fluid, romantic clothes is sustainability. Beyoncé’s look is made from upcycled 150-year-old tapestry and upholstery fabric, gifted to Reed by the Bussandri family after a fateful encounter on holiday in Italy. “It was incredibly validating as an artist,” notes Reed of having the Vogue stamp of approval for his ethically-minded and out-there work. “In the past, people have been quite nervous about taking something that’s so dramatic, opulent or extreme. This look embodies the whole Harris Reed 60 Years A Queen vision. It’s full self-expression at its maximalist best.” On one of the biggest performers in the world, this communicates a powerful message.

Beyoncé’s July 2022 British Vogue cover.

 Rafael Pavarotti

.

.

Originally posted from “British VOGUE” by Alice Newbold