It was days before Beyonc’s Renaissance tour date on July 29 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, when Geselle Valera began panicking about not having an outfit to wear, she told Insider.
Valera took to TikTok
She first began scouring the internet for a dress three days before the tour date with her cousin and fellow Beyonc fanatic, Mag. Valera told Insider she was looking for a silver dress, but everything on Amazon was either sold out or would be unlikely to arrive before the concert.
@geselle_v My dad made my outfit for the beyonce concert the night before! #rwt2023#beyonce#cozydance#cozydancechallenge#renaissanceworldtour @Beyonc THIS A REMINDER – Beyonc
Valera told Insider a lightbulb struck for her cousin when she spotted a dress with fabric similar to one of Beyonc’s own tour costumes, worn at her Stockholm tour date on May 10, which was by British designer David Koma. The idea was for Valera’s father, Jose Peralta, to rework this dress to look similar to Beyonc’s.
Peralta, who is from the Dominican Republic, told Insider he has been sewing since he was 13. When he immigrated to the United States in his mid-30s, he always had a side job sewing and tailoring clothes in order to fund the education of his children, he said.
Valera told Insider: “Without his side job, I wouldn’t have been able to live the life I did or get the education I did.”
Valera’s TikTok was flooded with comments from fellow Beyonc fans showing their admiration for her father.
One commenter said: “This dad needs to be protected at all costs. Beyhive unite.” Another said: “He ate! Giving Uncle Johnny made my dress energy,” referring to Beyonc’s own late cousin, who, due to being a similar age to her mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, was known by her as Uncle Johnny.
In July 2022, Knowles-Lawson shared on Instagram that Johnny, who died when Beyonc was 17, influenced the singer’s sense of style and even made her prom dress. Beyonc also gave a shout-out to him in one of her songs, “Heated,” which includes the lyrics: “Uncle Johnny made my dress. That cheap spandex, she looks a mess.”
Valera told Insider she had no inkling that the outfit would garner such a positive response. “Running to my father for last-minute assistance was nothing out of the norm for me; he is truly an incredible man.”
“My father always comes to the rescue,” she added.
