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No one does a rebrand like Taylor Swift. With every new album, she manages to morph into a new character — angsty goth for Reputation, pastel fairy for Lover, dark academic for The Tortured Poets Department, and then a Vegas showgirl dripping in diamonds for The Life of a Showgirl. Her red carpet looks often mirror whatever era she finds herself in. Some say Zendaya pioneered method dressing, but sorry, Taylor has been doing it all along. And, for her latest trick — I mean, rebrand — Taylor Swift is entering her most exciting era yet: fashion girl.
The Venn diagram of eagle-eyed fashion-philes and Swifties started to detect something in the water around May of this year. I fall into the former category more than the latter, but I’ve always harboured a particular curiosity with Swift’s sartorial inclinations. My interest was piqued when a picture of her out and about in New York came across my desk. Swift’s signature ultra-mini skirt was nowhere to be seen, nor was her penchant for logos and sequins. Instead, she wore a pair of grey wide-leg trousers and a white button-down with a little peplum detail at the waist, courtesy of Stella McCartney. The most interesting part of the look, though, for me, was what she wore on her feet. In lieu of her usual towering heels were a pair of simple black block-heeled sandals from, wait for it, The Row — the ultimate fashion insider’s brand. The look was a little corporate, granted, but it was undeniably chic, like something a high-powered lawyer would wear on casual Fridays. Could Joseph Cassell, Swift’s longtime stylist and friend who has been responsible for most of her outfits for over a decade, have been replaced by one of fashion’s buzzy fashion-girl stylists, like Kate Young or Karla Welch, perhaps, I pondered.
As it turned out, he hadn’t. The pair’s creative partnership remained intact. Could Swift’s successful ensemble be nothing more than well-styled fluke, then? As if in response to that question, a month later, Swift struck gold again.
Rolling through Greenwich Village in New York, Swift wore a pair of relaxed wide-leg jeans, a Guest In Residence polo (courtesy of her good friend Gigi Hadid, no doubt), a Chloé bag and a pair of her beloved Gucci Horsebit sandals. It had a ’70s-ish vibe and was put-together but not stuffy. If I were to nitpick, I might say the shoes, belt and bag were a little matchy-matchy, but whatever — it was good. These are the clothes she should have been wearing all along, I heard myself telling anyone who would listen.
Meanwhile, as Taylor Swift was pleasantly surprising fans with her refreshed street style, rumblings about who might be tasked with crafting her wedding dress were reaching fever pitch. On 5 July, one of Swift’s representatives confirmed that Jonathan Anderson was the chosen one, designing a custom Dior Haute Couture gown for the big day. It came as a shock — Anderson is fashion’s cerebral golden boy, renowned for his Surrealist proclivities and for being the thinking woman’s designer. His aesthetic — quirky, a bit weird, achingly modern — was seemingly at odds with Swift’s hyper-feminine, all-American girl-next-door look.
Punters had their money on American designers Oscar de la Renta or Ralph Lauren for the dress, both of whom Taylor Swift has worn in the past and the latter she wore for her proposal. As for me, I saw her in a frou-frou Vera Wang gown or something from Givenchy under Sarah Burton. She wore a Givenchy gown on the red carpet for her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame a mere few months ago and looked good, plus, Burton has experience designing high-stakes wedding gowns — anyone remember Kate Middleton? But Swift had other plans, as per usual. The fact that she chose someone like Anderson to design the most important dress of her life is, arguably, the most on-brand thing of all.
As she withheld a visual of the gown, Swift kept fans satiated (in part) with a slew of shockingly good red carpet looks. Historically, she has had a checkered past with event dressing. There have been hits — the Oscar de la Renta mini dress she wore to the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards springs to mind — but equally, she’s had some misses too. Nobody’s perfect.
This award season, on the eve of releasing The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, Swift turned up to MTV’s Video Music Awards looking, in my humble opinion, better than she ever has. Wearing a velvet-bodice halterneck gown by Australian designer Tamara Ralph, complete with a fine silver mesh skirt draped sarong-like around her hips, Swift walked the line between sophisticated and showgirl with aplomb. The proportions were right, her hair and makeup were bang on, it was theatrical without being on-the-nose. In short, it was close to a perfect score.
That look, however, was merely the entree to an even more showstopping main. At the Academy Museum Gala, Swift brought out the big guns: Jonathan Anderson for Dior, of course. Stepping onto the red carpet, she looked resplendent. Wearing an icy blue strapless gown made from layers of feather-light chiffon and hand-embroidered with silver sequins, Swift was the image of Grace Kelly (if Grace Kelly were a fan of Jonathan Anderson). Some speculated that the dress was some sort of Easter egg hinting at her wedding dress. I predict the real thing will be far more grand — with all due respect, a floaty pleated skirt is no match for Madison Square Garden — but it was the first time we’ve seen Swift in one of Anderson’s creations, and it proved that there’s more to her than just platform shoes and micro minis.
She might have kept us waiting for the better part of 20 years, but if Swift’s recent run of looks is anything to go by, she (and Cassell) might have finally found her fashion footing. A fashion girl era It looks good on her.
The post So, Is Taylor Swift A Fashion Girl Now? appeared first on ELLE.
