The internet is still talking about Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland showing up on stage in Houston to support Kamala Harris’ run for president. in fact, two-thirds of Destiny’s Child came with some words to voters still on the fence about supporting Harris and they arrived in style.
While Beyoncé showed up in an hour-glass black blazer dress that showed off her famous figure, Beautiful Kelly Rowland went for a different style altogether, appearing in a suit by Fear of God, styled with an Amiri shirt and tie. While the speeches the singers gave made plenty of waves online, so did their outfits, with many taking to social media to give their takes, especially on Rowland’s oversized outfit.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, “Who said Kelly Rowland was wearing a Steve Harvey suit last night?!” comparing the singer to the Family Feud host. Other users went deeper with their critiques of the looks, writing that Rowland’s masculine look compared to Beyoncé’s feminine one was disrespectful to the “Motivation” singer.
“Kelly Rowland has been used as a prop for Beyoncé entire solo career,’ one user wrote on X. “Kelly should be tired of looking like a fool —but, apparently she’s not,” adding that Beyoncé was dressed “very demure, very cutesy, very feminine.”
Other users also spoke to colorism in the ways that Rowland dressed versus Beyoncé. One post that gained a lot of traction read, “This is colorism. The optics here are terrible & purposely designed to make the d(a)rkskin BW appear more “m(a)sculine.’’ Another similar post read, “The colorism is screaming here ... can’t let the dark skinned sis have her shine.”
Some users clapped back at these claims, writing that the “actual” colorism is thinking that Rowland “doesn’t have the free will to choose her own outfit.” They added, “The actual colorism is thinking she’s so submissive and stupid that she would let other ppl dim her shine The actual colorism is infantilizing a 43 yo wman (sp).”
Some also took offense to the idea that Rowland’s look was “too feminine” or that it didn’t look good at all. Using photos of Rowland’s history of wearing oversized suits, one user wrote, “Kelly Rowland likes to wear suits and has for quite some time. But because YALL don’t like it, the argument has moved to Beyoncé has made her do it to make herself look better. These tweets don’t move anything, these two women love each other IN REAL LIFE.”
Another user shared similar sentiments, writing, “Kelly Rowland loves herself a good oversized suit. She’s been rocking this signature look at events, red carpets, basketball games, & even as street wear for a while now.” They added, “Ya’ll don’t pay attention to her unless she’s dolled up a certain way or standing next to Beyoncé.”
Another user wrote about the way people online have proceeded to disregard both Rowland and Beyoncé in turn for their looks, writing, “They decided to remove all agency from Kelly Rowland and call her masculine because she wore an oversized suit they didn’t like, and attack Beyoncé in the process.”