Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
person wearing black Vans Old Skool shoes
person wearing black Vans Old Skool shoes
Sara Rolin/Unsplash
Style

All of Beyoncé’s Tour Merch Has Selfies of Her Dressed as a Literal Queen

Stephanie Blair

In preparation for the On the Run Tour II, Beyoncé recently dropped a new line of merchandise. In the past, the power couple has designed some pretty iconic tour getups, and this one certainly makes the cut. The design features the singer dressed as Queen Nefertiti, an Egyptian who ruled alongside her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten. This choice of costume for Beyoncé isn’t entirely surprising — those paying attention to her fashion choices as of late, might have noticed a theme. 

According to W Magazine, Bey has been obsessed with the gold color palate since her pregnancy announcement in 2017. Posing next to a statue of an Egyptian queen, she looked like one herself. The dress she wore for her Grammys performance also had Egyptian elements.

After being referred to as “Queen Bey” for years, this direction isn’t a shocker. But while the Beyhive seems enthralled by Beyoncé looking like the queen she is, others felt the merch was appropriative of Egyptian culture. Egyptian artist Maie Ayied was among the Twitter storm of those outraged by the use of Nefertiti’s image as a direct model for Beyoncé’s photos.

“I’m all kinds of mad about Beyonce literally selling herself as Nefertiti. My country’s history and culture has been so brutally commoditized and commercialized and exported to everyone’s satisfaction and convenience for GENERATIONS. I’m not spending a dime on her,” Ayied tweeted. “Like, I GET the appeal — I get it: ancient egyptian ‘stuff’ is pretty and cool and neat and ‘AESTHETIC’, but it has meaning. so maybe someone should tell her she’s perpetuating a cycle of theft from a people already so used to being robbed of their own history. My people and their lives are not your aesthetic. End of story.”

Beyoncé has not released any statement about the controversy.

Stephanie Blair is a freelance writer and photographer with nearly five years of experience working with print and online publications. She is currently living in Salem, Oregon while finishing her degree at Western Oregon University.