Beyonce Starts Clothing Line

NEW YORK – Beyonce (search) is planning a new release — her own fashion collection.

The Destiny's Child (search) singer has signed a licensing agreement with the Tarrant Apparel Group to produce a line of apparel for young women. She named the House of Dereon (search) collection after her grandmother Agnes Dereon, who worked as a seamstress.

The first fashions will be in stores this fall, and the look will be "a mix of vintage things with contemporary things. It'll be fur with denim, classic with street," Beyonce said.

The collection also will include party dresses, sweaters and even some tailored jackets.

"I have pretty broad taste. I've been all over the world — thank God I've had the chance to do that," the 23-year-old told The Associated Press Wednesday.

Beyonce will design the line with her mother, Tina Knowles, who along with her daughter formed Beyond Productions, a joint venture with Kids Headquarters. They'll work with co-creative director Heather Thomson Schindler.

"I think my mother and I both have a good idea of what people who are fashionable like," the singer said. "I love clothes from my grandmother's generation, my mother's generation and contemporary stuff."

Beyonce is already wearing some of the samples. She spoke to the AP by phone during a fitting for the dress she'll wear in the upcoming "Cater to You" video.

"It's a takeoff of sparkle. ... It's sort of Supremes-era," she said.

Tina Knowles, the stylist for Destiny's Child, said the mother-daughter design team broadens the audience for the clothing line.

"It'll have a young feel but be practical, too," she said. Knowles also noted that some of the design and sewing techniques that her mother taught her, including smocking and hand-beading, are trendy again.

Cory Silverstein, Beyond Production's executive vice president, said House of Dereon outerwear should be available by the holiday season.

"And we're two more heartbeats away for shoes and handbags," he said, while lingerie, eyewear, jewelry, a fragrance and home products are on the timeline for the next three years.