*Monday night (June 6), Beyoncé made a surprise appearance at the 2016 CFDA Awards wearing a sparkling black and gold pinstriped suit, made just for her by Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, accented with $9 million worth of jewelry from designer Lorraine Schwartz (presumably on loan).
According to Elle magazine, Bey wore a $7 million necklace with over 100 carats of diamonds, 25 carat diamond studs, and at least 4 diamond rings. She topped the look off with a wide-brimmed black hat.
The amount of diamonds Beyoncé wore last night is CRAZY: https://t.co/tSHM6GLFsX pic.twitter.com/oGk3zTWZgw
— ELLE Magazine (US) (@ELLEmagazine) June 7, 2016
Beyonce, who was presented with the CFDA’s Fashion Icon Award, arrived at the event in NYC with mom Tina Knowles, hubby Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy, who was either waving at or waving off the paparazzi as she entered the venue with her daddy.
After Diane von Furstenberg presented Bey with her award, Beyoncé took the stage to give a touching acceptance speech — as 4-year-old Blue Ivy cheered her on and snapped pictures with an iPhone. (Scroll down to watch.)
Bey said:
As long as I can remember, fashion has been part of my life. Its effect on me actually started before I was born. Many of you guys don’t know this, but my grandmother was a seamstress. My grandparents did not have enough money. They could not afford my mother’s Catholic school tuition. So my grandmother sewed clothes for the priests and the nuns and made the uniforms for the students in exchange for my mother’s education. She then passed this gift down to my mother and taught her how to sew.
“When we were starting out in Destiny’s Child, high-end labels didn’t really want to dress four black country curvy girls, and we couldn’t afford designer dresses and couture. My mother was rejected from every showroom in New York. But, like my grandmother, she used her talent and creativity to give her children their dreams. My mother and my uncle, God bless his soul, designed all of our first costumes and made each piece by hand, individually sewing hundreds of crystals and pearls, putting so much passion and love into every small detail. When I wore these clothes onstage, I felt like Khaleesi. I had an extra suit of armor. It was so much deeper than any brand name.
Watch Beyonce’s entire CFDA Fashion Icon Award acceptance speech below (beginning at the 3:54 mark):