From Being a Neuroscience Science Major To Dressing Beyonce for 'Renaissance' — Brandon Blackwood Has Tea To Spill
The designer even shares deets on the holy grail skincare product he’s gatekeeping and more.
Brandon Blackwood has been in his bag. (literally.) Initially rising to international fame with his best-selling “End Systemic Racism” tote in 2021, the designer has launched and sold out countless cult-loved bags; even adding coats and footwear to his collection. Making things even sweeter, the rising legend even designed an entire moment for Beyonce during the Europe leg of her Renaissance World Tour.
We know that Blackwood has had quite the year and an even busier summer, and his cal is still bewked. Of course out of curiosity, the Hypebae Beauty Team needed to get the teas on how Blackwood was literally managing it all. We know that he has a team to even out the workload for him; but underneath it all, the human aspect of processing these momentous occasions and overbooked calendars; how does he handle it? Well, we were able to get the inside scoop directly from the source.
It was quite refreshing and surprising that despite all of his accrued accolades, Blackwood still humbly regards himself as just someone who makes bags. (He jokingly said to me during our interview.) From the skincare product he has to gatekeep to humble beginnings and the moment of dressing Queen Bey, get into the beauty of Brandon Blackwood’s story ahead.
Brandon Blackwood/Ig
It is now industry standard to know that you were a neuroscience major in college. How did you resolve within yourself that you were going to deviate from your collegiate path and work in fashion? Was the acceptance challenging?
BB: So I originally majored in neuroscience and I kind of knew that I didn’t want to have that as a career. So what I did was basically kind of lied to everyone and started interning at like Nylon and Elle magazine while I was still in school. Yeah, I didn’t tell my parents or anything. And then once I graduated, I was like, you know, I’m definitely going to end up working in fashion. I didn’t know what I wanted to do yet. So, you know, I used to want to be a buyer I use to want to be an editor and things like that.
Design was always kind of like last on the list, which is funny. And then I was working retail right after college since, you know, all the science stuff was kind of out of the way. And I made a bag and it got really popular. And then from there the business started to form. I don’t regret it obviously. And as much as I love science to this day, I just know, fashion had a different calling, a different feeling. And I just felt like I needed to follow up.
Brandon Blackwood is your eponymous brand, and is now one of the industry’s most sought-after brands. Does that add any pressure to your creative process?
BB: So having the brand, kind of be in demand, obviously adds a different type of pressure because you have a lot of eyes looking to see what you’re doing currently and what you’re going to do next. But I feel like I’m not too worried about it just because we have a really strong, solid and loyal customer base.
Our customers really care about the brand and really like to see like, what we’re doing, what we’re developing. And that’s why I’ll post swatches online — I’ll do like pulls online to see what people like and what they don’t. So I think my design kind of turns into a collaborative effort with the customers. And because of that, I don’t get as nervous because they kind of help me make it, you know? It kind of eases the pressure of it.
Beyonce wore Brandon Blackwood on her current Renaissance World Tour — if you can share, how did you find out she wanted you to dress her? What were your initial thoughts?
BB: So the Beyoncé moment has definitely been a highlight of this year. Probably for the next, like, three more. It was a huge moment for us. K.J. Moody, who is Beyoncé’s stylist, had reached out [to me] to do a custom. I remember it’s like 8:37pm. Yeah, just in the memory forever. I answered right away. We immediately started working on it and, you know, they kind of gave direction what they wanted.
They gave me a lot of control over the process. After everything was sketched, we sent it to them, they made the decision and we got it made. We had an issue with trying to get it there because that’s where it started. So I actually flew overnight to Brussels from New York, like from the office straight to Brussels and hand-delivered it to make sure I got there on time.And that was like the whole moment.
Once it was dropped off, we literally just had to sit and wait. I was having lunch with my assistant Gina and K.J. texted me, and was like, she’s going on stage like 10 minutes. And I remember just dropping my phone and just being, like, completely in shock. Then literally like 10 minutes later, all the photos, everything just started appearing. It was really crazy.
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With so much pressure as a “Bawse” and CEO, that must put a lot of mental and emotional pressure on how? How do you take care of yourself to make sure you’re your best YOU?
BB: Owning a business obviously can be pretty stressful. But what I like to do is just get some me time. I’ll hang out with my dogs, I have three of them, so they really take me out of work mode, I need to run around and play with them.
I like to garden. I like to garden a lot. I actually have peach trees, jalapeños, mint; my little city garden, which is really fun. And then from there, if anyone were to come over to my house. You’ll see a lot of art and love. I like to go the galleries, check out art. I love decorating. And yeah, I think those are the things that kind of take me out of work mode and fulfill me in a different way.
What product are you gatekeeping?
BB: There is one skin care product that I gatekeep, that I guess I can share. Obviously sunscreen is super important. It’s this invisible sunscreen stick; from where, I don’t know. You put it on, you don’t see it. And you just put that on your face and just reapply.
What can we expect next from the Brandon Blackwood brand?
BB: So what’s next for me? I think our fall collection, which is coming out very soon, it’s going to be a little different from the normal vibe the brand dishes out, so that’s gonna be really fun. We have crazy outerwear coming and then I think next year overall, we have a lot of crazy things lined up and I can’t wait. I can’t say everything, but you’ll see.
This interview has been condensed for clarity.
