Solange Knowles has become the star of her own magazine spread after Harper's Bazaar featured the R&B singer in their latest issue. Constantly touted as the edgier Knowles sister, Solange is finally shaking off the intimidating shadow of Beyoncé's career and standing tall with her own look, personality and music career.

Solange Knowles
Solange Knowles Opens Up In An Insightful New Harper's Bazaar Interview.

The sisters have always cultivated very different styles, which is useful considering they look so physically similar. Rather than being the sister-of-someone-famous, Solange's left-field, daring fashion choices are now being celebrated by the fashion world and lusted over by hoards of fans keen to emulate the new "girl crush" on the scene.

Solange's career began in her early teens when she performed with Destiny's Child before realeasing her own solo debut, Solo Star, aged 16. "I still stand behind the stuff I did early on, but I was on a record label and I didn't have a lot of creative control," she said of her album's difficulty finding an audience. "Another side of that is just being young and having bad taste. There was plenty of that too."


Taking stock years later, she honed her own sound on second record Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, which featured eclectic R&B, Motown, and blues influences and an diverse crew of hot industry collaborators including Cee-Lo Green, Pharrell Williams, and Mark Ronson.

Now the go-to girl for cutting edge style, Solange revealed that despite having being tasked with the titles of art director and creative consultant for a Puma range, she finds her icon status hard to get her head around. "I've always had an annoying relationship with the term 'tastemaker,'" she explained, adding "but it's been a defining part of my career for the past couple of years."

Solange Knowles Glastonbury
The Singer Has Cultivated A Look And Sound Very Different To Her Sister's.

A career in music had to take a backseat when she fell pregnant with son Julez - now 9 - at the age of 17 and endured a divorce with his father, Daniel Smith, barely out of her teens. She reflected upon this challenging time in her life and decided that she is richer for it: "In a lot of ways, emotionally and mentally, I feel far older than 27," she evaluated. "Just going through a marriage and a divorce - which I essentially did by 21 - will give you an insane amount of perspective on life."

Solange Knowles Glastonbury Yellow Coat
The Go-To Girl For Edgy Style Is Uncomfortable With Her "Taste-Maker" Mantle.

However, Solange admitted that Daniel is a great father to Julez and one she can rely on to swoop in and take the pressure off when she's making music. "We co-parent really well," she says. "I'm able to say, 'I need to finish this album, can you step up and take care of the boy?'" Knowles is currently in a steady relationship with video director Alan Ferguson but interestingly finds the stability hard to be inspired by. "Luckily, I dated all of the losers ages ago. My love life has been stable for a while," she revealed, adding "It's a f***ed-up thing - without conflict it's a lot harder to write interesting songs."

Recently, the singer has been holed up in the remote Cajun County in Louisiana, which is renowned for its swamps and excellent gumbo, whilst she works on her new album. "I figure there's no better way to buckle down and finish it than to be as far away from everyone as possible, cell phone and computer behind," says the Houston native who splits her time between Brooklyn and New Orleans. "I'm not very good at writing songs when I have a lot of clutter in my mind."

Solange Knowles Playboy 60th Anniversary
Rising Star Solange Has What It Takes To Work Her Way To The Top.

As a parting shot, we're left with a rising star who has a remarkably self-assured outlook on life and a control over her career that will see her parachuted to the top. "For the first time in my life, I'm basing every decision around the idea of whether I want to do it or if I think it will be inspiring. And that's paid off for me," she said.

The April issue of Harper's Bazaar will hit newsstands on the 25th March.

More: Last year, Solange Knowles was named as Puma's art director for a new sneaker range: find out what the role entailed.

More: Need a little fashion inspiration? Solange never puts a foot wrong: check out our gallery for pictures.