Dance For You- Beyonce

Just when you thought my series of Beyonce videos from her album 4 was over, it’s not!  Bey just released her final video from this era, Dance For You.  It’s simple, and it’s hot.  She’s seducing this private detective from the 40’s which looks weird to me- kinda like they edited her into an old movie but she still looks better than 99.99% of the world while pregnant.

I get the draping to cover her growing belly but I don’t get that she left just enough for her crotch to show through.  Not so classy, Bey.

Not my favorite video from her series of videos for 4 but I do love this song.  I was crossing my fingers for her to do one for Schoolin’ Life! That would have been a great one.

Run The World (Girls)- Beyonce

And to round out my Beyonce 4 series is the lead single off of 4, Run the World (Girls), which didn’t do as well as a lead Beyonce single would do but this video completely makes up for it.  As a fashion person, I don’t see how you can’t drool over this video, I mean, her wardrobe budget must have been $29847389578934 and she used that $29847389578934 very well.

When the video opened with this McQueen number, I knew this was going to be good.

Then, the song begins with this shot of Beyonce in this gold headpiece.  If I had this, I would wear it everyday, how could you not?

And then when this shot of Beyonce in this Givenchy, I think I screamed.

 

This is one of my favorite collections ever and seeing all this couture in a music video is unheard of. At this moment, I knew Bey was after my heart with this era.

And then this Gaultier.  Amazing how she chooses all the looks that stood out to me most in their collections.

Now this who Gareth Pugh look-

I like all the pieces separately, not sure about them all together, but her blue nails and rings make up for that fact.

Beyonce basically covered all the bases in terms of big name fashions, ending with these two Pucci numbers, the yellow one becoming THE look for this single/video.

 Not only was the wardrobe beyond amazing, the whole visual of the video made a great contrast with the clothes.  Beyonce, you really won me over this time.  This is how a pop star should dress.  If couture is an option in your life, please take it.

And definitely check out the making of this video in Beyonce’s “Year of 4” special here!

Best Thing I Never Had- Beyonce

It’s fitting that part 4 of my Beyonce series of videos from her album 4 is for the song that turned me fully into a Beyonce fan.  After I heard Best Thing I Never Had, I was converted from just a casual Beyonce enjoyer and have never looked back.  It was refreshing to have such a simplistic take for her second video from her lead video Run The World.

We open with very gratuitous shots of a newlywed Beyonce in some white lingerie.  Although she is pretty much naked, the Princess Leia buns help her seem a little more innocent.

We flashback to who exactly she’s singing to- her high school sweetheart who let her get away.  We see why she’s the best thing he’s never had and why he’s crazy for leaving her because she looks exactly the same here, playing age 18, as she was when she was actually 18 back in Destiny’s Child.

 I love that she’s wearing a dress that was probably from the prom section at Macy’s.  Keeps it looking very authentic.

 

And we finally see the wedding dress!  Why not wear the biggest, most extravagant, dress at your pretend wedding? It’s a little much for my taste.  If it was on anyone else, it would scream tacky but she looks straight from a fairytale. I wonder if Bey’s real wedding dress had all this? [Edit: It did not! Check out her actual wedding dress shown during her performance of “I Was Here” from her Live At Roseland DVD]

Shouldn’t this be Jay-Z and not some male model?  Not even a Jay-Z lookalike?  If I were replaced by a hot male model…I wouldn’t know how I’d feel about that…

And it’s not a celebrity wedding without some Vera Wang. A simple, classic dress to relax in after lugging around that huge train all day.

Countdown- Beyonce

Part 3 of the Beyonce series and it’s time for my favorite song off 4! I’ve had this on repeat since the album came out and still listen to it.  I was expecting something totally different when I heard she was doing a video for “Countdown,” but the more I watch this, the more it grows on me.  If I recall, she described this song in an interview as a mishmash of different genres and this video is kinda the same thing- a mishmash of decades and styles.

We get introduced to Audrey Hepburn-Beyonce from the 50’s. Not quite the first reference I have in mind when listening to the song, but if it’s what she imagines when she sings it….

And quickly, at the time this video was released, the cat comes further out of the bag when in this mod cutout jumpsuit when Bey turns and you see baby Jayonce (I think that’s what people are calling him/her) who will be cooler, more talented and richer than any of us will ever be right out the womb.

 And here we begin the American Apparel takeover.  I remember reading on a blog that Beyonce came into an American Apparel store in New York with her stylist and bought those sheer button-down shirts you will see later on in every color.  Lo and behold, here they are in this video with basically the rest of the American Apparel catalogue.

A leotard in every color.  Anything that comes in that many colors probably is from American Apparel.

Then we get into some other setting that has nothing to do with where we were before that reminds me of Fame.

More American Apparel and the beginning of the rainbow of button-downs.

Then, we return to this Fame-like place where apparently Beyonce “stole” the whole routine from a Belgian choreographer.  C’mon, you don’t think someone with international recognition like Beyonce would blatantly plagiarize someone else’s work and hope no one notices? No. They full well knew what they were doing.  I think they could have mentioned when the video was announced that it was inspired by the original video but whatever the lady who choreographed it got her credit anyways from the hoopla this incident made.

But I digress. Back to the clothes- what’s with the random silver dress that appears near the end of the video? They really took this mishmash theme all the way.

Confession: I was a bit disappointed by this video when it came out but I love that she had a completely original style and concept. Plus, that Bey shops at American Apparel too.  She did say that this song was a hit with the hipsters.  Always thinking about her fans.

Love on Top- Beyonce

When the preview of this video came out, I couldn’t stop watching it, which came to be the first third of the whole music video.  Beyonce looked flawless, radiant and happy- definitely that pregnancy glow, not to mention her hair was great.

But the one thing that I could not keep my eyes off of was…the shoes.

The infamous Isabel Marant sneakers.  Bet you didn’t know there was a wedge heel inside.  They have to be my most wanted shoes at the moment.  If I had a pair, it’d be all the sneakers I’d need.  I admit, a bit of jealousy poured over me as I watched Bey dance around in them, but she wore them well, I can’t be mad.

As for the rest of her outfit, she could’ve used some pants, or hotshorts because pants don’t really exist to her, but the hat was cool.

 Is it just me, or does it say “27” on it?

All of a sudden, it’s nighttime and everyone magically changes into gold suits. Finally, we’ve broken the rule that all guys in Beyonce’s videos have to wear normal, boring clothes.  And of course, in true Beyonce fashion, she shows once again that she can hang with the guys in the same suit.

I really don’t get the random wardrobe changes and I really don’t get this.

That jacket. I just don’t.

I felt better about the jacket after she rips off her pants though, but I can’t tell if it’s because I’m not used to seeing Beyonce in pants.

Did anyone else notice how the next shot is of her in a hat when she wasn’t even wearing one before or after?

Honestly, I would have done without the wardrobe changes.  Like this one that I almost completely forgot about.

I think I got too caught up in the Isabel Marant sneakers to care about anything else…

Party- Beyonce

Cuz we like to partayyy ayyyy ayyyyy ayyyyy. This has got to be one of the most ridiculous videos Beyonce has ever done.  The latest to come from her video anthology of her latest album 4, which I may add, made me into a total Beyonce stan, is the beginning of my Beyonce chronicles in video clotHOES.  I mean, how can I not review them all? (We’re gonna exclude the 1+1 video because I choose to pretend that it doesn’t exist but don’t tell anyone).

I don’t even know what decade she’s supposed to be in.  It’s like she took the most ridiculous things from the past couple decades and threw them all in this video.

 Things I understand in Bey’s Party world:

1. The fannypack. 

Since attending an 80’s party where I opted for a fanny pack as my accessory for the night and seeing how convenient it is, I don’t know why they ever went out of style.  How can something so functional become such a social stigma? It’s really not THAT ugly, Diane von Furstenberg sent some fannypacks down the runway a couple seasons ago. If I wouldn’t get made fun of in public by everyone who saw me, I’d totally wear a fannypack in real life.

2. This lounge chair. 

 Not a clothing item but such nostalgia comes from these lounge chairs.  I bet you have one in your parent’s basement that’s seen better days like the kind Beyonce’s having right now.

 3. Everything about this

 

The crazy lady drag makeup, the metallic bathing suit, the wild hair, the blow up chair, this is as ridiculous as it gets and even more ridiculous is the fact that on Bey, it somehow works.  I know if someone else wore that, they’d look like something else, let me tell you.

4. Destiny’s Child reunion!

2/3 of the band is good enough for me!  With the feud fans are having between Kelly fans and Beyonce fans, it’s nice to know they’re still friends and gives us hope for a Destiny’s Child comeback!

Now onto the things I don’t understand in Bey’s Party world:

Why are all the guys in normal clothes?????  The girls all got to dress up in their hip, colorful trailer park glory and the guys take the easy way out in jeans and a t-shirt.

C’mon J.Cole, Beyonce chose you to be in the song/video instead of Andre 3000, who clearly wouldn’t have disappointed in the wardrobe department.

 Why are these guys so boring?  You’re in a Beyonce video, helllloooooo, stop trying to be so cool and have a little fun. You just look boring.

And what is up with this shot of J.Cole on this car?  What was the budget for this video again?

Probably spent on these babies.