Beyonc? made an unexpected appearance at the 2016 CFDA Awards last night where she took home the coveted Fashion Icon Award.
The 34-year-old ?Sorry? singer reportedly ‘snuck’ into the star-studded event in NYC on Monday, June 6, with hubby Jay Z, daughter Blue Ivy and mom Tina Knowles by her side.
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Beyonc? appeared in a stunning black and silver striped Givenchy tux paired with a wide-brimmed black hat to accept her award and eagle eyed music fans soon noticed that ‘Queen B.’ wore the ensembe in honor of her legendary musical counterparts.
During her speech, Beyonce also honored her mom and grandmother’s influence on her style and even managed to create awareness about racism in the fashion industry.
More photos + read Beyonce’s emotional acceptance speech below…
As CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg presented the entertainer with the Fashion Icon Award, Beyonce’s politically tinged smash ?Formation? played in the background.
I feel so much love and I feel so proud.
As long as I can remember, fashion has been part of my life. Its effect on me actually started before I was born. Many of you guys don?t know this, but my grandmother was a seamstress. My grandparents did not have enough money. They could not afford my mother?s Catholic school tuition. So my grandmother sewed clothes for the priests and the nuns and made the uniforms for the students in exchange for my mother?s education. She then passed this gift down to my mother and taught her how to sew.
When we were starting out in Destiny?s Child, high-end labels didn?t really want to dress four black country curvy girls, and we couldn?t afford designer dresses and couture. My mother was rejected from every showroom in New York. But, like my grandmother, she used her talent and creativity to give her children their dreams.
My mother and my uncle, God bless his soul, designed all of our first costumes and made each piece by hand, individually sewing hundreds of crystals and pearls, putting so much passion and love into every small detail. When I wore these clothes onstage, I felt like Khaleesi. I had an extra suit of armor. It was so much deeper than any brand name.
Jay Z, 46, beamed with pride as he looked up at the stage and Beyonce’s mom, Tina, wiped tears away as her daughter acknowledged her. Beyonce continued:
?My mother, who is so fabulous and beautiful and is here tonight, I love you. My mother, my grandmother and my uncle are always with me so I could not fail. My mother actually designed my wedding dress, my prom dress, my first CFDA Award dress, my first Grammy dress. And the list goes on and on and on. And this to me is the true power and potential of fashion. It?s a tool for finding your own identity, expression and strength. It transcends style and it?s a time capsule of all of our greatest milestones.
So to my mother, my uncle, my grandma, thank y?all.
Thank you for showing me that having a presence is about far more than the clothes you wear and your physical beauty. Thank you for showing me to never take no for an answer. Thank you for showing me how to take risks, work hard and live life on my own terms.?