Now that the celebration of the Renaissance Tour and film has reached a place of calm, praise for Beyoncé has made way for the singer to face a litany of accusations, including ones regarding copying a designer’s style.
In particular, Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama has expressed his dissatisfaction with the chrome and feminine robotic visuals and costume that the Grammy Award winner donned during the 56-stop show.
In a Dec. 11 Instagram post, Sorayama shared a photo of Beyoncé on a Jumbotron screen wearing a chrome headpiece with antennas at the ears, as well as a T-shirt featuring the described image that was sold as official tour merchandise.
He accompanied the post with his illustrations of women dressed in tin robot suits with headpieces that resembled the ones seen throughout the “Alien Superstar” theme of the tour that were designed by Frederik Heyman.
“Yo @beyonce You should have asked me “officially” so that I could make much better work for you as like my man @theweeknd,” he wrote. The call-out incited a pool of social media users to rally in support of Sorayama. One person wrote, “Give that man his credits!!!!!! When a white person does this to a blk person we want our credit.”
But those type comments were far outnumbered by fans defending the music icon with receipts, proving that Beyoncé has been experimenting with the robotic theme throughout her career.
Examples include looks from her 2007 Beyoncé Experience tour and her BET Award show performance that same year. She again toyed with the fembot concept in 2009 with the help of luxury fashion designer Thierry Mugler.
“He came out of retirement for her & worked as artistic advisor to Her. He created the costumes for her I Am… Tour. Infusing his futuristic ideas into her Sasha Fierce persona. Designing ROBOT suits for dancers & pulling from his ARCHIVE,” wrote a defender using Mugler’s sketches.
Baby… Hajime Soraya can’t be SERIOUS
— THUGGA (@THUGGABEY) December 11, 2023
Beyoncé BEEN doing Robo Suits since 2007 at the BET Awards, Then AGAIN in 2009 for her music video, Sweet Dreams. ALSO, Beyoncé had interludes in her I Am…World Tour in 2009 appearing as futuristic robot. Beyoncé’s futuristic appearances… https://t.co/I5Yy1lV2Bo pic.twitter.com/jDycufMSIZ
Another Sorayama critic posted, “This is idiotic. She’s literally wearing custom Mugler, who has done iterations of this look dating back to the early 90s. Here is Emma Sjöberg in George Michael’s “too funky” music video. Beyonce wore a version of Mugler’s motorcycle outfit from this same music video in 2009.”
A third commentator on X summed up Sorayama’s outrage as “directly taking shot at B NOW despite the fact that she been wearing robot suit by Mugler (chrome aesthetic, antenna helmet,..) for decades is just cheap and petty action lol.”
Other remarks reminded the illustrator that his aesthetics of a hyperfeminine robot metropolis was inspired by artists who already had crafted concepts by the time he emerged in the mid-1980s.
Last year, Beyoncé was caught in the fray when Kelis blasted producer Pharrell Williams for sampling “Milkshake” on the “Renaissance” album. Kelis stated that the “Break My Soul” singer should have given her a courtesy call.
Since then, Beyoncé has gone on to face claims of skin bleaching to appear “white” and of not doing more to make the Renaissance movement inclusive of Black media.
