House of Dereon: Beyoncé’s first, forgotten clothing line

While Beyonce has emerged as a vocal and fashion powerhouse, many may not know that Queen Bey’s first attempt at creating her own fashion line, called House of Dereon, failed miserably.

Beyoncé and her mother Tina Knowles first launched the athleisure brand in 2006.

House of Dereon came with its own set of hiccups, long before Ivy Park came to knock it out of the park.

What was House of Dereon?

The fashion label began its launch with the idea of honouring three generations of women.

With a tagline that read ‘Couture.Kick.Soul’ each of the words represented the singer’s mother Tina Knowles, herself and Agnez Dereon, Beyoncé’s grandmother, respectively.

When Beyoncé was a member of Destiny’s Child, her mother Tina would create and make the group’s costumes, especially in the early stages when they lacked funding or access to fashionable attire.

Along with their evident skill, Destiny’s Child was known for their distinctive fashion sense.

Although their individuality gave the group different flavours, they all wore clothing or accessories that were of a similar style, colour, or pattern.

Why did the House of Dereon fail?

Despite the sentimental attachment to the brand, Beyoncé’s brand lacked a distinct ideal customer.

The company was created based on her personal preferences, which mixed her grandmother’s 1940s-era fashion with trends from the 1970s.

Secondly, her audience was not used to the sudden change from music to fashion and while she was highly regarded for her vocal abilities, her fashion sense was not one that was well-received by the masses.

As a consequence, her failure to establish her fashion brand’s credibility and authority meant that it was doomed to begin with.

However, that did not sway the Lemonade hitmaker as she went on to have successful partnerships with Adidas, Balmain and more.

Currently, the fanbase has been going gaga over the singer’s exclusive launch of her Renaissance World Tour merch.