Why Beyonce Asked Fans to Wear Silver and Chrome to Her Birthday Shows

• Beyoncé asked fans to come decked out in silver outfits for her Virgo season shows.
• Some fans who planned their outfits had to scramble for new fits.
• Here’s how some dealt with their silver outfit assignments before her birthday on September 4.

Beyoncé has made it evident that bold, artistic fashion statements are a significant part of her Renaissance World Tour.

Onstage, Bey has worn everything from a gold Loewe catsuit adorned with crystals and a futuristic Balmain bodysuit to a campy Mugler bee costume — complete with oversized antennae and a buggy head mask to match.

But on August 22, she flipped the script and asked her fans for a birthday present.

“My birthday wish is to celebrate with you wearing your most fabulous silver fashions to the shows 8.23 – 9.22,” a story post on Beyoncé’s Instagram read. “We’ll surround ourselves in a shimmering human disco ball each night.”

With a new — and last-minute — outfit assignment, some fans started to scramble and shared their reactions to the news on TikTok. And it seems almost everyone was trying to stay on the theme — even celebrities like Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Megan Markle, Kelly Rowland, and Gabrielle Union.

Justyn, a makeup beauty influencer who shared the process of building his outfit from scratch on his TikTok account Justyngee, was blindsided by the news. The outfit he made, which included a custom gold chest plate, took about seven hours to design, spray paint, and embellish over four days, Justyn told Insider.

And then Beyoncé made her announcement.

“I love my girl and I would have loved to have worn silver but why couldn’t this announcement come two weeks earlier?” Justyn said on TikTok following the announcement. “Because Bey I’m talking to you right now: The outfit has been planned.”

Justyn, who said he would be attending Beyoncé’s September 4 birthday show in LA, told Insider he was debating whether or not to comply with the silver edict. He did have a silver outfit on standby, but it was not as skillfully crafted as his gold ensemble.

He said he doesn’t think Beyoncé would mind him stunning in gold.

“As a queer person it’s great to see a big pop sensation, especially someone like Beyoncé, just spotlight her community and our community,” Justyn, 25, said. “And I’m pretty much just going for the vibes and for a good time. Like, there’s no pressure. I purely created the outfit as a source of joy for myself.”

Paola, a travel blogger who shares her journeys on her account paolatravell, also showcased her silver fit on TikTok for Beyoncé’s LA shows. She told Insider that after going to multiple shows all over Europe, she decided she had to see Queen Bey in person on September 4.

“I’m also a Virgo… I did this just as a birthday gift to me,” Paola said.

Paola told Insider that as a super fan of Bey, she wanted to do something “really classy” for her birthday weekend shows using white and gold and channeling hits on the Renaissance album like “Alien Superstar” and “Church Girl.”

“And then one week before everything, she decided to request the silver outfit. My first reaction was like ‘Oh my god, I want to cry’ because my outfit was already done.”

Paola said, however, that she wanted to comply with the silver request because, to her, it felt like a big sister inviting her to a themed party. So she dedicated a week before the show putting together her silver outfits by hand.

“It wasn’t easy,” Paola said. “I didn’t sleep for one week. It was a great challenge.”

But she said she would do it again — even if Beyoncé requested it a day before.

“It’s a new personal passion that started because I did that.”

Another fan who decided to take on the silver theme is Christina Barras, 30. She told Insider she grew up loving Beyoncé so much that she played a role in inspiring Barras’ previous dancing career.

Because Barras bought her tickets much later than most, she told Insider she didn’t feel blindsided by the announcement and felt like the theme helped give her a better sense of direction in her outfit choice.

“I think it’s fun because it feels like we’re all just going to like a themed party together,” Barras told Insider.

The Los Angeles-based makeup artist shared her shopping experience on TikTok at Santee Alley, a fashion district in LA. Barras said she found part of her silver outfit there and ended up bonding with the store owners over Beyoncé.

“We figured that’d be the perfect place to go for Renaissance shopping, and sure enough, they had everything silver pushed to the front,” Barras said. “And some stores even had Beyoncé playing. This woman working that day was just super hyped up and was matching our energy, and we just had a blast there. It made picking out outfits that much more fun because we were in the headspace of just, like, high energy.”

As for why Beyoncé asked her fans to wear silver, the fans Insider spoke to had their theories.

“I just think it’s like this whole era is just about like having fun and releasing all the negativity. I think with this dress code for the audience, it brings people together in a way, and it creates more of that like community aspect where we’re all just in this together, having fun, living our lives,” Barras told Insider.

Justyn pointed out the parallels between the silver statement pieces and queer nightlife, as well as an homage to her Uncle Jonny, a gay relative who died from AIDS-related complications and was an important figure in Beyoncé’s life.

“I feel like the silver is a strong call back to queer nightlife, like Studio 54. And I think she was trying to, because she has said multiple times at this tour is kind of like a love letter to the LGBT community, and her Uncle Jonny, wanted to make a strong call back to that and kind of bring some sort of camaraderie with everyone.”

Representatives for Beyoncé did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.