Beyoncé's bodysuit took 'three weeks' to create

5 July 2016

Beyoncé's bodysuit took Julien MacDonald "three weeks" to create.

Beyoncé

The 45-year-old Welsh fashion designer has revealed he worked "night and day" for over 21 days on the 'Lemonade' hitmaker's black embellished bodysuit, which was encrusted with "about 30,000 caviar Swarovski crystals" and "silk and Swarovski fringe" detail on the sleeves of the arms.

Speaking about the 34-year-old's strict requirements for her stage attire and the inspiration behind his masterpiece, he said: "I work with Beyoncé on her outfits over Skype - it's kind of funny like 'Hey, how are you?!' But you know, she's very opinionated about what she wants. She said to me: "I want you to think of Africa, and something I could wear dancing to an African beat". It's a bodysuit with about 30,000 black caviar Swarovski crystals.

"The imagery on the body itself is taken from African tattoos and body paint, and then it's got a silk and Swarovski fringe. It takes up to 3 weeks to create something like this - night and day working on it."

However, the fashion mogul - who was crowned British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2001 - has admitted he will design garments for Beyoncé, but will have no idea what occasion she will be wearing it for.

He explained: "Sometimes I can make her things and never know what she'll be wearing it for - like the BET awards, which was top secret. I thought it was for the tour, but then they kept asking me questions of how to treat it if it got wet. I was watching it on TV and I fell off my chair like 'Wow, she's got it on!'"

However, the 'Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model' judge loves seeing the mother of one - who had four-year-old daughter Blue Ivy with her husband Jay Z - adorn his extravagant items of clothing.

He told Grazia: "She is the biggest superstar in the world. She's a strong, powerful, confident woman. It's amazing when you see her dancing and moving in your designs - I also created the gold bodysuit she wore to the European opening of her Formation tour, that was covered in about 70,000 Swarovski crystals and 24 Carat gold embroidered components. Everyone who works with Beyoncé knows she loves fashion and she decides what she wants to wear - it's just dependent on what she's feeling."

"We designed an outfit for her and on the day she [Marni] was like 'Yeah she loves it, she's definitely going to wear it', and then because of the way her hair was she couldn't, they were like 'I'm sorry we have to go with another option', I thought, 'Oh no, but I thought I had it!'"