Beyoncé brings cowboy couture to Paris in custom Manish Malhotra

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour touched down in Paris with a look that pushed far beyond costume - a high-voltage statement piece crafted by Indian couturier Manish Malhotra. It marked a moment of fashion diplomacy on a world stage: a cultural icon in dialogue with a designer known for redefining South Asian glamour.

The custom ensemble took its cues from classic cowboy chaps, but what emerged on stage was something altogether more radical. Hand-embroidered and adorned with over 10,000 Swarovski crystals, the look blurred the lines between tradition and futurism. Paired with a sculpted black bodysuit - also crystal-encrusted - it caught the light like armour, every detail sharp, deliberate, and steeped in symbolism.

Styled by Shiona Turini, with support from Erica Rice Cruz and Tara Greville, the outfit speaks directly to Beyoncé’s vision for Cowboy Carter - a project that reclaims and reconfigures the American country genre from a Black, female perspective. The decision to collaborate with Malhotra adds another layer to that conversation, inviting Indian craftsmanship into a space often dominated by Euro-American aesthetics.

Malhotra, one of Asia’s most influential designers, is no stranger to spectacle, but this was different. It marked a rare moment of South Asian design being centred on a global pop stage not as tokenism, but as creative equal. The embroidery, the silhouette, the sheer precision - it all signalled a deeper commitment to cultural storytelling, where fashion becomes a medium of resistance, not just embellishment.

In a tour defined by reinvention, this look stood out as a sartorial manifesto: global in reach, grounded in heritage, and utterly uncompromising. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter isn’t just a genre shift - it’s a worldview. One where the past is rethreaded, the present reimagined, and the future dressed for the spotlight.