Beyonce…a cyborg? See for yourself….
See? I told you. The Cylons. They look like us now.
The handpiece you mention–alternately known among fashion reporters as the roboglove, the gling or Anti-Rihanna Death Grip–actually was handcrafted by Beyonce’s longtime jeweler, New York-based Lorraine Schwartz. Despite Internet rumors that the piece was fashioned of pure gold–possibly in the legendary Elven forges at Rivendell–it’s actually made of…
…titanium!
And, according to sources close to the gling, it’s also one of a kind and therefore close to priceless.
More details on the roboglove? Sure.
• Schwartz had her artisans working day and night on the piece, laboring 24 hours a day until it was complete.
• It fits literally like a glove. Beyonce’s entire upper arm was cast in wax so that the titanium piece would wrap perfectly.
• It’s actually several pieces, including a ring, a glove and a separate component that covers the upper arm. It can be worn all together or separately.
• It looks heavier than it is. Titanium is about 45 percent lighter than steel.
• Beyonce really, really doesn’t want to take it off. She wore it on Saturday Night Live. She wore it in her “Single Ladies” video. She wore it in her cover spread for Gotham magazine. She wore it on the red carpet at the MTV Europe Awards.
• The glove was Beyonce’s concept all the way, I am told–a “superpower” hand to complement the singer’s new Sasha Fierce ego.
14 Responses to 'Beyonce…a cyborg? See for yourself….'
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heh. Celebrity technofetishism always strikes me as a little silly.
Daniel Estrada
29 Nov 08 at 3:55 pm
SO…does that glove do anything besides look strange/fashionable/what ever you think of it? It would probably be like ten times cooler and transparent if it worked like one of the examples in Natural Born Cyborgs, where the chip implanted in a man’s wrist could trigger doors to open, lights to turn on, etc. Only this would be better, in that’s it’s less invasive.
Gautam Srikishan
1 Dec 08 at 12:57 am
Is that Freddy Krueger? They seem to have the same fashion sense.
Austin Maske
2 Dec 08 at 7:54 pm
This seems strange to all of us because the “glove” doesn’t really have any purpose. It is very opaque technology (which, I assume, is what beyonce was going for). However the idea of some device always on our body isn’t very foreign to us. Things like glasses, braces, and things of this nature never really strike us as odd—but that is because they are now transparent technology, not even noticed. I don’t think the metal glove would get too much attention if it served a purpose and became a transparent piece of technology.
Brad Thompson
3 Dec 08 at 12:16 am
I agree with B-rad. I think the mere fashion statement can be made into something that is actually useful- If Beyonce (or Sasha Fierce?) so desires. However, why would she be going for opaque technology when it could be so much more? Clearly, it could be used for much more than what it’s used for now, which is really just publicity. Until she does something important with it, I’m just gonna keep thinkg that she’s silly.
Gautam Srikishan
3 Dec 08 at 2:22 pm
What’s the point of it though? I think she should at least attach like claws or something to it. Just the glove doesn’t make Sasha fierce.
Austin Maske
3 Dec 08 at 3:18 pm
honestly, that’s the ugliest piece of “fashion” i’ve ever seen in my life. its hidieous! its like the concept of fangs for hands, thats the feeling it gives me.
it does look like a conglomerate of rings, rather than a glove, though. and the concept of rings on our fingers, like brad was saying, is not at all a foreign concept. i have 3 on right now. and that glove is about as useful as a ring at the moment, despite its potential. it might even be less useful, because in the old days married women would wear their ring finger in front of the knuckle on the second finger, which served to show their marital status and then proceeded to get them better service at say, the bakery. the ring became a technology for communication, but this glove is just a ‘decorative’ piece.
Elena Solomon
5 Dec 08 at 12:54 am
its even tackier than animal prints, and i always say you can’t get tackier than that. beyonce just proved me wrong. good job, beyonce.
Elena Solomon
5 Dec 08 at 12:55 am
It just goes to show what real it is that we now easily have the ability to make casts of the human body and duplicate their appearance whether it is for gloves or a full blown cyborg robot. The reality is that the creation of legitimate cyborgs is getting ever closer as our technology increases. Today we are making robot like gloves for musical stars, tomorrow we are designing cyborgs that preform in place of the musical star. Something to think about…
JD
5 Dec 08 at 6:22 pm
That glove is a laugh. Fashion at its strangest. Funny at the same time there is an appealing factor about it. To me and my geeky self at least. It seems something that a computer nerd would walk around wearing, rather than the star studded Beyonce. I think that I would prefer it if it served some kinda purpose like Andy Clark thinks, but not quite a door opener. No, make it anti-gravitational and an electric magnet. Force powers baby! Until then, Beyonce and her metal hand is NOTHING!
Jason Blumstein
5 Dec 08 at 6:34 pm
Lihy writes a lot of posts.
Calli Leventis
5 Dec 08 at 10:37 pm
This metal hand reminds me more of a grill than anything relating to technology.
Grills and metal hands are both stupid.
Grills and metal hands both involve useless bits of metal on parts of your body in ways that are not necessarily culturally acceptable.
Grills and metal hands are both used by strange celebrities.
Grills and metal hands make me feel stupid when posting about them
Technology and metal hands…nothing. They have nothing to do with each other. Beyonce is crazy.
Calli Leventis
5 Dec 08 at 10:39 pm
Also, how dare these commercial celebrities start doing ridiculous things worthy of starving performance artists! How dare they develop those same freakish tendencies to isolate and differentiate oneself from the crowd! This is just not right. They get the money, the fame, and the eccentricities, too? What is left those of Allen Hall ilk? What, I ask you?
Calli Leventis
5 Dec 08 at 10:41 pm
Calli, you may not live here, but you take a class here, so you count as one among our ilk!
I have much less of a problem with Lil’ Jon and his grills than Beyonce and her metal hand. Nobody takes Lil’ Jon seriously, so he can do crazy shit like that. Beyonce I’m sure wants to be respected as a musician and an individual, and this alter ego, metal hand thing is foolish, and will make people think of her more like they do the King of Crunk.
If she’s really doing that to be an enhanced human cyborg, then more power to her. But come on, this alter ego shit is stupid. Anyone else remember when Garth Brooks had that travesty Chris Gaines? Not that Garth Brooks isn’t himself a travesty, but you know what I mean.
Joel Ferm
5 Dec 08 at 10:55 pm