The major talking point from this weekend’s Coachella festival was undoubtedly Beyonce’s headline performance on Saturday night. Not only did she reunite Destiny’s Child, perform with her husband Jay-Z and sister Solange, handle multiple wardrobe malfunctions with ease and make history by becoming the first black woman to headline the festival, she did it all while rocking a beauty look that we want to recreate immediately.
Bey’s makeup consisted of a glittery smoky eye, dewy lips and cheeks, and fresh, glowing skin, which mirrored the collegiate-style Balmain looks she wore on stage. As her makeup artist Sir John explained to Refinery29: ‘She wanted to look young, fresh, and like she wasn't trying too hard. I was really inspired by the dress rehearsal, I didn't want to take her out of the element of the show by making her too girly or too minimal or sleek, I wanted her to look like a college girl on campus. Remember the movie School Days by Spike Lee? That was my inspiration.’
For those unfamiliar with the cult 1988 film, it follows clashing college students at a historically black college in Atlanta, with Lawrence Fishburne’s politically-aware character Vaughn ‘Dap’ Dunlap feuding with members of the privileged fraternity and sorority communities, who are less interested in anti-apartheid politics than him. It touches on issues such as colourism, too, with the sorority members largely made up of lighter-skinned women of colour, who wear coloured contact lenses and straighten their hair.
The film is a fitting inspiration for Beyonce, who has often spoken about issues surrounding women of colour through her music. The lyrics to her song ‘Formation’, which she performed at the Superbowl in 2016, reference the issue, while her younger sister Solange has frequently addressed concerns over how black women’s hair is treated by pop culture.