Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, is loving being a grandmom and watching her four grandchildren, Daniel Julez J. Smith, 17; Blue Ivy Carter, 10; and twins Rumi and Sir Carter, 5, grow into their unique personalities. By watching the next generation, she not only sees the individual characters develop, but she also gets to witness their social skills bud — particularly between sisters Blue and Rumi.
The 68-year-old said young Rumi may be a budding fashionista, picking out her own drip for the day and always adding her own pizzazz to her outfit. Sometimes, the mini-Zerina Akers’ style doesn’t meet her big sister’s mindful standards. The Galveston beauty and fashion designer says she gets tickled sitting back and seeing them defend their positions on what is “hot” and what is “not.”
“Rumi loves fashion. She picks out her own clothes,” Knowles-Lawson told Oprah Daily. “We recently went to Disneyland, and she put on her Mickey Mouse shorts. Then she wanted to put on a sparkly printed top which had the same colors. It actually looked really cute.”
She continued, “Blue was like, ‘My mom would be mad because she’s doing too much,’ and Rumi said, ‘This is my style.’ She’s 5. I was impressed.”
If doing too much in Blue’s Beyoncentric eyes is a nod to her embracing her mom’s aesthetic, Knowles-Lawson believes Rumi is taking after her Aunt Solange, whose eclectic style captured in her Raphael Saddiq-produced “Cranes in the Sky” was nominated for an Oscar.
“She [Solange] wore outrageous stuff, but she has an amazing sense of style,” the celebrity grandmother shared before giving her advice on how children should develop their sense of style. “So, you let them do their own thing. You can’t say, ‘No, this doesn’t go with this or that.’”
Knowles-Lawson pointed to The Carter children’s recent gig as models for their mom’s Adidas x Ivy Park campaigns as an example of how mature their sense of style is.
Designers have tapped their brains hoping to get their opinions on what kids might think is cool.
“They have definite determination about what they like and what they don’t like,” she explained.
“When Beyoncé’s doing the first samples, they get them, and some things they love, and some things you can tell are not their favorite. Kids like things that are comfortable. They don’t want anything that’s scratchy or too tight or high around the neck. So they absolutely give input on the brand. And they wear it — I mean, they are always in Ivy Park.”
Knowles-Lawson got to spend a lot of time with her grands during the pandemic’s quarantine season.
In a 2021 ”Entertainment Tonight” interview, she said “the best thing” was she got to see them “almost every day.”
“I think it made us appreciate each other,” she shared.
