The Era of Summer Renaissance

by Christian Hopley

Two of this summer's most anticipated events are making monumental waves in both economics and fashion. Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour have attracted people from all over the globe to witness both performers. Both concerts garnered a frantic craze over ticket sales with the average ticket costing $700 and reselling for well over $1,500. Some resell tickets were inflated well past $10,000. It's an understatement to say these shows are just ordinary tours. Both artists are projected to gross over 1 billion dollars in revenue by the end of their tours which would be historic for each of them.

Money Matters

Financial analysts across the globe stated that these tours have caused an economic bump and in some areas are “fixing the recession” as they encouraged people to spend more money.

Fans and concertgoers have spent thousands of dollars to attend these shows, not just on the ticket itself. Many fans have decided to turn the concert into a vacation and chose to fly to a different city or even country to see their favorite artist. Their tour experience extended beyond the ticket – now having to factor in flights, accommodations, transportation, and of course outfits.

Essence magazine reports that searches for wigs were up 81% and up 300% for nail techs. Both tours also aided local businesses during each stop. Searches for lounges and restaurants were up 160% during the tours.

Beyoncé chose to start her Renaissance tour in Stockholm, Sweden back in May. Fans flew into the city from across the globe to witness the first official show of the tour and each night Beyoncé performed for a crowd of 46,000. By the time she left Stockholm, Swedish economists reported that her tour had caused inflation to skyrocket as the city had to host over 100,000 tourists at one time. While the inflation fell by June, during the month of May the price of almost everything had increased substantially. On the USA leg of her tour, Taylor Swift was celebrated by the US Federal Reserve for attracting thousands of visitors to Philadelphia. This marked the strongest month for hotel revenue with a 96.8% occupancy rate across the city.

Along with the concert tickets themselves, both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have expanded the Renaissance and Eras experience by creating merchandise to go along with the album. This included vinyl, fans, clothing, and coffee table books. It's safe to say the summer economy was saved by two women and their revolutionary artistry as millions of fans came out to witness the American leg of both Beyoncé's Renaissance Tour and Taylor Swift's Eras tour.

Uncle Johnny made my Bejeweled Dress

Fans have used these concerts as their own fashion playground. The Renaissance tour has been an exploration and exposition of fashion creation. Concertgoers have invested hundreds of dollars, time, and creativity into making the perfect look for the shows. Most concertgoers actually made their elaborate outfits sustainably. Many of the innovative looks were handmade, or upcycled recreations of Renaissance-inspired attire. The tour and album "Renaissance" are inspired by the queer ballroom community, Studio 54 glitz, and 70s/80s/ disco glamor. With lyrics like “Unicorn is the Uniform you put on”, the theme called for silver, gold, hot pink, sequins, and glitter, along with a cowboy flair. Beyond just album-inspired looks, loyal BeyHive fans even recreated some of Beyoncé's own tour looks from her 25 year career. There was even a fan who showed up wearing a prosthetic effect Alien Head in line with the third song on the album “Alien Superstar”.

For Taylor Swift's Eras tour, fans made looks inspired by the various albums Swift performs from all eras of her career. Fans were able to pick which era best represented their own personal style.

The Midnight, Speak Now, and Lover albums called for shades of purple, pink, deep blues, and the requisite glitter. Contrastingly, the Folklore and Evermore set of the concert evokes a “cottage core” style with warm autumnal colors and flowy billowing maxi dresses paired with western boots. The Red album was of course for the fans who love the bold color and Reputation also evoked a vampy look of red and black as well. 1989 was for all the fans who love green hues. Most notably for the 1989 green looks, fans upcycled outfits using leaves and flowers from craft stores to represent a garden.