When Beyoncé does something, it’s Major News™. This, after all, is the most-nominated woman in Grammy history, the first and only black woman to headline Coachella and Glastonbury, the woman who gifted us the masterpiece that is Lemonade and the woman who has landed a three-project deal with Netflix worth $60 million, including 2019’s epic Homecoming.
That’s why we were eagerly anticipating the release of the Adidas x IVY PARK athleisure collection. After all, she’s been teasing it all week – what with her own Instagram snaps modelling the pieces, an ELLE cover dedicated to the collection and the large orange crates filled with the collection turning up at numerous celebrity doorstops, such as Reese Witherspoon’s (who created a wonderfully playful TikTok video to celebrate), Zendaya’s and Cardi B’s.
We weren’t alone in our excitement. Since dropping Saturday 18 January, the Internet has been a frenzy and the Beyhive has been true to form, trending #IvyParkXAdidas on Twitter throughout the day and buying up much of the collection instantly.
Priced between $25 and $250 (around £19 and £190), the gender-neutral athleisure collection includes jumpsuits, asymmetric dresses, biker shorts and coats, as well as accessories and footwear; all in shades of maroon, orange and cream.
While IVY PARK’s celebrity fans, sell-out success and domination of social media is far from surprising, as ever with the Internet, there is plenty of ridicule and criticism…
The ridicule
The jokes began as soon as the first images of the collection dropped and comparisons between IVY PARK's colour scheme and Sainsbury's uniforms began. “I don't think this new IVY PARK range will fly in the UK. Every time you go to Sainsbury's someone will be tapping your shoulder asking for hummus,” one Tweeter quipped on Friday 17.
“I’m so jealous of people outside of Britain that have no idea what Sainsbury’s is because it’s fully ruined it for me,” another joked.
CHECK OUT Most shocking bust-ups of the decade
The most shocking bust-ups of the decade slider
Mark Wright and Danny Dyer
At V Fest 2016, Danny's daughter Dani was seen having a real go at Mark's friends in the Mahiki VIP area of the festival, who in turn told her to shut up. Danny came to her rescue and was throwing punches, even though this all actually took place on his stag weekend with fiancée, Jo. Mark took to Twitter after the brawl to say he didn't personally fight, and the pair were seen looking seemingly friendly later on.
Solange Knowles and Jay-Z
After the 2014 Met Gala, Solange (Beyoncé's sister) was caught furiously arguingwith and hitting and kicking Jay-Z in a lift. Headlines were made after Beyoncé appeared in the video footage to just stand by and look disinterested. The feud has subsequently been played down, with Jay-Z describing Solange as "like a sister."
Drake and Chris Brown
These two have a complex relationship but the main issues started over Rihanna(whom they've both been linked to). There are rumours that they threw bottles at each other in a New York club in 2010, and that at one time Chris' girlfriend RiRi actually went on secret dates with Drake behind his back.
Drake and Meek Mill
Drake and Meek have a long history of calling out each other in their raps. The main bone of contention is that Meek Mill said that Drake doesn't write his own raps in 2015, which is why he hasn't been promoting his music. Drake famously stays pretty quiet on beef, but many others pointed out the collaborative nature of rap means rappers often use other peoples' material.
Justin Bieber and Orlando Bloom
Justin and Orlando were at the same restaurant in Ibiza, where Lindsey Lohan and Leo DiCaprio also happened to be there when things got violent. Justin Bieber apparently insulted Orlando, who can be seen jumping on a sofa after him. It was rumoured that model Miranda Kerrgot too close to Justin while she was married to Orlando. A photo of Miranda was posted on Justin's Instagram after the fist fight which fuelled the rumours further.
Lamar Odom and the paparazzi
In 2013, while married toKhloe Kardashian, Lamar was caught going crazy at a member of the paparazzi. He reportedly went into the car where the camera equipment was kept, and threw it out into the street. If that wasn't enough, he also allegedly attacked another camera man's car, and then took some equipment from the road and put it into his car. Wow.
Russell Crowe and Azealia Banks
Apparently Russell Crowe spat at Azealia Banks when they were at the same party a few years ago. She accused him of assault and racist language, but it was never confirmed and Russell said that he had had to remove Azealia for being aggressive. It was one member of the Wu-Tang Clan that claimed he saw Russell spit.
Kanye West and Jay-Z
Jay-Z signed Kanye to his record label in 2004, and they've had a weird kind of brotherly love/hate relationship ever since. In 2014, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were no-shows at the Kimye wedding in Italy, and everyone pretended it was fine. Then in 2017, Kanye left the streaming service Tidal (owned by Jay-Z), and claimed he would start his own.
Kanye West and Taylor Swift
In 2009, Taylor Swift was interrupted by Kanye after he declared on stage at the VMAs that Beyoncéshould have got Taylor's award instead. It seemed that the pair had made up until Kayne's song Famous came out, implying that Taylor's fame was down to him. This resulted in a new argument, over whether she had or hadn't approved this reference.
Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus
We certainly remember the infamous, "Miley, what's good?" from 2015. The VMAs that year seem to be the source of all Nicki Minaj's beef, as it was Miley Cyrus who was hosting on the night when Taylor beat her (see above). Nicki criticised Miley for talking to the media about her, and Miley retaliated in her recent song Cattitude, "I love you, Nicki, but I listen to Cardi".
Nicki Minaj and Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato attended her first Met Gala in 2016, and apparently it wasn't something she loved. In fact, she says she left at 10pm to go to an AA meeting. Rumours are that Nicki Minaj, who was also a guest of Jeremy Scott like Demi, was nasty to Demion the night. This seemed to be confirmed by Nicki posting a photo with Demi and the designer Jeremy Scott, but only tagging Jeremy. Demi later responded to this with her own pic, of her giving Nicki serious side eye.
Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel
The Rock and his co-star Vin Diesel apparently didn't film any scenes together in The Fast and the Furious movie which they both starred in. It seems obvious that there's no love lost between the two of them, mainly from the fact that The Rock called Vin Diesel "candy ass" on Instagram last year.
John Legend, Chrissy Teigen and Piers Morgan
Everyone knows Piers Morgan likes a bust-up, especially via Twitter. THIS ONE, though, is definitely our favourite with quotes such as, "Hi, Piers. I know you're reading this. You unequivocal douche", and, "Hi Chrissy. No I'm not, you ludicrous swimwear accessory". It seems to have started (this time) when John hit back at Piersfor calling Muhammad Ali racist.
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris dated for more than a year before calling things off. Two weeks later, Taylor was pictured kissing actor Tom Hiddleston and both Calvin and Taylor had deleted all traces of each other off Instagram. The real beef is to do with getting credit for This Is What You Came For, which the pair worked on together as a couple. Calvin took to Twitter to say Taylor was staying with him for "something to do."
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are friends (at the moment) but it hasn't always been that way. In 2014, Taylor hired three of Katy's dancers for her Red tour, then half way through they left to dance for Katy's Prism tour. Talking to Rolling Stone, Taylor said another female singer had done something awful to her and they could no longer be friendly. Taylor's album Bad Blood expresses her feelings on the matter.
Vicky Pattison and Ricci Guarnaccio
Vicky Pattison dated Ricci Guarnaccio while on Geordie Shore, and they even got engaged for a bit. Having said that, Vicky has called their time together "hell" and they fought regularly. When Ricci went on Celeb Big Brother, he got close to TOWIE's Lauren Goodger, and Vicky said in reference to watching them on screen, "he's a child in a man's body."
Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf
Tom Hardy started the rumours that Shia LaBeouf knocked him out cold while they were filming together for Lawless. Shia later denied it, saying that it was a separate incident where Tom fell down the stairs which resulted in Tom getting hurt, but admitted that the pair "wrestled" all the time when working closely - even naked.
Ferne McCann and Adam Collard
Earlier this year, Ferne McCann was allegedly investigated for throwing her drink at Love Island's Adam Collard. This all occurred on the night of the NTAs, after Ferne told other guests to steer clear of Adam and Zara McDermott. Ferne went out with Charlie Brake just after he split from Ellie Brown, one of Zara's closest friends from the reality show.
Megan McKenna and Pete Wicks
The Towie crew had to restrain exes Pete Wicks and Megan McKennaafter their first public conversation post break- up did not go well. There was lots of shouting and crying in the street as they argued about their friends getting involved in their business.
Evan Peters and Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts was arrested for domestic violence in 2013 for supposedly hitting the American Horror Story star Evan Peters. The police were called to their Montreal hotel where they found Evan with a bloody nose. He didn't press charges and denied that Emma had bitten him during their spat.
Camila Cabello and Fifth Harmony
While she was the cover star for Latina magazine in 2015, Camila Cabello confirmed that she believed her band Fifth Harmony would splitand then started to release music alone. The next year, during a show in Missouri, Camila left the stage in the middle of the performance and is accused of pushing bandmate Lauren Jauregui. That December, she left the group for good.
Riffing off what has already become a running joke on British Twitter, Sainsbury’s took to their social media to poke fun at the comparison on January 18, IVY PARK’s release date. Sharing a photo of a model in one of their uniforms, they joked they were “the original” and had been “repping since 1869”, with the picture also featuring the hashtag #SainsBey.
The tweet has since garnered 15.8k likes and Beyhive fans quickly swarmed to Beyoncé’s defence, even going so far to fight the supermarket over its share prices and financial situation.
“Not y'all trying to drag when your sales been falling for three quarters straight. Let's talk about it,” one fan tweeted in response.
“Jokes on you because everyone would rather shop at Asda and Tesco’s OR EVEN MORRISONS before Sainsbury’s,” another replied.
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The criticism
On the other hand, many fans have expressed their shock and dismay that the new IVY PARK collection – with sizes ranging from XS (approximately a UK 6) to XL (approximately a UK 20) – would not be completely size-inclusive.
“I stan Beyoncé, but it’s disappointing to see that this collection only goes up to an XL, especially because Adidas recently started selling size inclusive activewear as well,” ‘fat fashion’ writer Gianluca Russo commented.
“We can love her and still say Bey is wrong for Ivy Park’s size exclusion. You can’t celebrate the inclusivity of your other projects, having plus size dancers and background singers, but ignore us again when it comes to this. The exclusion is intentional and I’m tired,” essayist Candice Benbow tweeted.
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The criticism comes after Beyoncé herself stated that she designed the collection with everyone in mind. Talking to ELLEshe said that she “focused on designing a unisex collection of footwear and apparel because I saw so many men in Ivy Park. The way they have embraced the brand is an unexpected gift. I appreciate the beauty of gender-neutral clothing and breaking the so-called fashion rules.”
Likewise, Adidas pointedly mentioned inclusivity in the press release announcing the collection: “This unique relationship champions the values of inclusivity, community and diversity and will take consumers on an unconventional journey starting with this capsule collection for Spring '20.”
As noted by The Curvy Fashionista, Adidas are no strangers to plus size clothing. Prior to IVY PARK launch, Adidas launched a size inclusive collaboration with plus size brand Universal Standard in late 2019 wherein sizes went up to a US 4X (a UK 28/30).