Topline
Backup dancers on Beyoncé’s 32-show Cowboy Carter tour are sharing photos of a handwritten note and Louis Vuitton gift they received from the superstar singer two weeks after the end of the tour—and each piece retails for $3,500.
Dancers tagged Beyoncé and Parkwood, the entertainment company she founded in 2008, in thank you posts that showed they'd been gifted what looked to be the Horizon 55 piece of rolling luggage from Louis Vuitton.
The carry-on size bag, which has cowhide leather trim, features the classic Louis Vuitton logo in gray repeating across a black canvas and retails for $3,500.
The gift came with a handwritten note, signed from Parkwood, that reads, "Congratulations on the completion of the Cowboy Carter Tour! Thank you for all your hard work and dedication the last couple of months. We hope you enjoy your gift and know that we greatly appreciate all your contributions to this tour and its success."
There were reportedly 29 dancers on Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour, which started in April and ended on July 26.
Beyoncé notably partnered with fashion conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) earlier in her Cowboy Carter era when she launched whiskey brand SirDavis, a joint venture between the singer and Moët Hennessy, with a limited-edition Louis Vuitton trunk designed to hold the whisky bottle and glassware; she also posed for an image in a custom outfit that included a custom LV monogram bikini and matching leather chaps.
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While some fans have praised the singer for rewarding the “loyalty” of her dancers, others have said the gift is “cheap” and compared the bags to the reported $197 million in bonuses Taylor Swift gave to the hundreds of people on her Eras Tour team over its nearly two-year run. “Giving louis vuitton while ticket prices could’ve funded a small country is wild,” one fan posted to X. “Pay them Not PR them,” said another, referencing Beyoncé’s close ties to the Louis Vuitton brand. It’s unclear if Beyoncé also gave cash bonuses to her supporting performers.
Beyoncé has partnered with the Louis Vuitton brand for years, notably around the Cowboy Carter and Renaissance tours. Pharrell Williams, men's creative director for the brand, created custom outfits for Beyoncé, her dancers and daughter Blue Ivy during the North American leg of her Renaissance World Tour that included a custom bodysuit hand embossed with crystals. She wore a western-inspired, crystal-studded Louis Vuitton look to the 2024 Grammys weeks before formally announcing her country music album, and she wore a custom denim outfit by Williams, seemingly inspired by the "Cowboy Carter" album, to the Louis Vuitton Men's Fashion Week show in June. Williams gifted Beyoncé a Speedy bag straight from the runway in a viral moment, making her the first person—besides the model—to wear the purse.
Beyoncé released her first country music album, “Cowboy Carter,” last March. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and launched at No. 1 on both the Top Country Albums and Americana/Folk Albums charts. It also sparked a conversation about the music industry as some in the country community questioned whether she truly belonged in the genre, and some radio stations refused to give the album airtime. The Cowboy Carter Tour was announced in February and demand for tickets, which ranged from $50 to $800 in price, crashed the Ticketmaster website. The tour's five-show run at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles sold 217,000 tickets and grossed $55.7 million, according to Billboard. By the end of the tour, Cowboy Carter had broken, tied or extended 47 Billboard Boxscore records and was the highest-grossing country music tour in history.
Beyoncé was ranked 45th this year on Forbes' list of America's wealthiest self-made women. She was estimated to have a net worth of $780 million as of June. Her husband, Jay Z, has an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion as of Monday, making him the 1,524th-richest person in the world. His wealth was built on his music career and significant investments in alcohol, art and tech. The LVMH conglomerate is the parent company to brands like Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon, Tiffany, Dior, Sephora, Bulgari and dozens more. Its chairman, Bernard Arnault, has an estimated net worth of $141.7 billion and is the world's ninth-richest person.