Taylor Swift Style is dedicated to identifying the fashion of singer/songwriter Taylor Swift and will host a collection of exact finds from her wardrobe.
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Taylor Swift Style 2011-2018
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The story of Taylor’s style evolution from almost two decades of looks.
The designers. The details. And the intention behind it all. Featuring 200+ photos spanning 10 albums (+ Eras Tour). Accompanied by Critically Kind commentary (natch).
When it came to choosing a single image as homage to Taylor’s style, I selfishly had greener ideas in mind. Never fear - the spine is 💚.
One look made the most sense. A look iconic and quintessentially “Taylor”: Unabashedly girly, that had a cat eye sharp enough to kill a man, and a red lip classic thing that we all like. But also one that meant something more. A look that Taylor took and elevated to take on new meaning - intertwining the two methods of communication she has used in equal measure her entire career: Her music and her fashion.
A watershed moment capturing a rising country star poised on the precipice of her next great venture months before unleashing an album that would lift her out of the modern day trappings of ‘pop star’ and into someone of true, undeniable, legendary status. While looking every bit the timeless icon she would become. It was also a moment that split apart the atomic identity of Taylor Swift the artist before her reputation was leveled and rebuilt into something even grander that we see flourishing today.
Taylor once dreamed of writing an album dedicated to a real love that shines golden like starlight. As a love letter to her catalogue and career that’s changed and formed my life in every way - the front and page edges of this first run of TSS: FASHION THROUGH THE ERAS ⭕ will be gilded in special, first edition gold foil.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for believing in the style behind the story and that this story in particular was worth telling.
One of my favourite parts of the album listening experience is, of course, the new set of visuals that come with it. While there’s much to be said about interpreting clues, patterns, and preferences in aesthetic from the case study that candids provide, I view the album photoshoot as the most ‘canonical’ of every era. And oh *swoon* is this one ever beautiful. The original album cover set it up and the rest of the album’s photographs followed through to create a beautifully raw, desaturated world. One that provides ample space between all the black and white for the music to paint with all the shades of grey that its messy, complicated circumstances depict.
In this particular shot, I love that we get to see Taylor’s hair smoothed out into a more classical glamour shot with a low, off-shoulder garment that exposes her back. Again, underlining the vulnerability of the shoot itself and how that ties into its respective work. The only ornamentation we see is from her modern, curved #GraceLee earrings.
But what’s most interesting in this shot are what appears to be calla lilies resting on her shoulder. The flowers look so naturally tied into the shot they could almost be the ends of her hair or floral embellishments on the garment. Of course, Taylor being Taylor there’s a lot to possibly interpret from these flowers (the language of flowers is fascinating and there’s a lot of conflicting and wide-reaching symbolisms to each). That said, calla lilies are a common funeral service flower as they’re typically seen as symbols of resurrection and rebirth or purification of a departed soul. Broken calla lilies on tombstones often indicate someone who died before their time. With a lot of lyrical imagery across the album that centers on death, dying, and grief this makes the most sense
The calla lily also has ties to other themes we’ve already seen Taylor opt into for #TTPD. First, the Victorian era, the lily having become popularized in the 1800s (the Victorian age was 1820-1914). Secondly, in Greek mythology as it’s often seen as the symbol of Hera (goddess of marriage).
Editorial Note: Original cover image captured by Beth Garrabrant - Taylor’s album photographer since folklore. In place of Beth’s image, for which she retains rights, I’ve commissioned a lovely demonstrative illustration by the talented Amelia Noyes.
Taylor’s fashion is the oft-neglected half of what makes her artistry so compelling. I have always believed that her music is only half the story - it’s the part that we hear - and the style story is the part we see. And that story is no less vivid and abundant with connotations to interpret. I believe this so ardently I wrote a book dedicated to defining the way her fashion and her music has told the dovetailed narrative of her artistry.
On April 19 we were finally able to match up the sound to the style stepping stones she’s been laying for the past year. And what a treat it was to be able to write about it for Marie Claire!
Layers of classic Taylor style on display here. Firstly, we have the “if I like it I’ll just buy it in a different colour” sentiment as Taylor has this top not only in black but also white. Secondly, I feel reasonably assured she was charmed by the style name of the top here.
From a behind-the-scenes perspective, based on the same top and jewels present here I feel like this is some sweet insight into why she was making only a virtual appearance at the iHearts back in April.
Worn with: Tilly Sveaas necklace and Jacquie Aiche earrings
It’s also worth noting that Swift is hyperaware of the dangers of celebrity. “I see a lot of celebrities build up these emotional walls around themselves where they let no one in,” she said in 2014, “and that’s what makes them feel very lonely at the top.” Staying emotionally open in her lyrics and accessible in her fashion is surely a way she avoids creating walls. Her fans must sense that. But it can lead to some self-conscious looks on the red carpet and in her street attire. This was true of the white custom-made Schiaparelli gown with a floor-sweeping hem and train that she wore to this year’s Grammys, which was criticized across social media. On Instagram, Sarah Chapelle (@taylorswiftstyled), who is publishing a book this fall about Swift’s style, likened the gown’s draping to “tangled bedsheets” … Chapelle, who has spent years tracking and decoding every detail of Swift’s outfits, assumed that the gown and its black accessories were Easter eggs. This time, the hint was to her forthcoming album The Tortured Poets Department, which has a black-and-white cover of a woman in black underwear lying in white sheets. Chapelle hunted down the make of the undies — a sheer Saint Laurent top and The Row’s briefs — and noted that Swift’s wearing so much of late from those brands was no coincidence. “Is there ever one with Taylor, really?” wrote Chapelle.
Many of you will likely remember this indie brand from earlier this year when Taylor wore their gree(eeee)n velvet dress while out in New York City. It’s always nice to see her style pillars firmly in place when it comes to supporting smaller designers.
The history behind the 'YSL’ Cassandra line is an interesting one - it’s actually named after Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, the man who designed the iconic 'YSL’ logo seen here on the bag’s front.
A part of me can’t help but wonder if Taylor felt kinship to a bag that also shared a name with Cassandra, of Greek myth fame who was doomed to utter prophecies that no one would believe. The poetry of that possibility really strikes me as it feels almost assured that the next (Taylor’s Version) re-record release will be reputation - an album that of course has roots in a famed phone call gone wrong where Taylor told the truth and no one believed her. Too stretchy? Or totally plausible? Would love your thoughts!
Regardless, I love the sleek lines and chain detailing on this bag. But what I love most - if my eyes aren’t deceiving me - is this gorgeous green leather colour.
In authentic Victorian fashion, this black ensemble Taylor wore was actually separates and not a dress. Her waxed denim jacket as previously posted was by Unttld and this ruffled skirt by Elena Valez from her Fall 2024 collection which only debuted this past February.
Elena told Laird Borrelli-Persson for Vogue that her “purest objective as a brand is to really bring a lost Midwestern woman back to the American cultural narrative.” Her desires in this collection were to bring a “more multi-dimensional representation of womanhood, good and bad; one that accepts the difficult, complicated, ugly truth of being a woman as part of the beauty that makes us whole and complete and 360. It’s a character journey that sometimes goes through an antagonist journey, but ultimately resolves itself with meaning and goodwill.” I frankly can’t think of a better ethos to match an album that centers much of its narrative on Taylor exposing wounds many of which she describes as “self-inflicted.”
It’s my suspicion that TTPD is not an album that will be, nor was designed with the intention of, understood or liked by the masses. To my ears (and still overwhelmed brain feeling like I’ve absorbed an encyclopedia of words across these 31 songs) this is an album for ‘Swiftie scholars’ who have the time, space, and devotion to wade through the heaviness of an album this dense and complicated. And that’s okay! When Taylor described this album as one that she needed to make, now that we have it I interpret her meaning as her willfully confronting and hurdling over the elephant in the studio with her. Addressing the “how did it end?” questions that will plague her as soon as possible and structuring it in an album messy, complicated, and strewn with all her most vicious thoughts about the last year of her life in order to get out from under the weighted blanket of those expectations, clearing a path for her next LP to be constructed in clearer air.
There’s truly nothing more intrinsic to the lore of Taylor Swift and clothes in her music than going out into a storm in her best (sparkly) dress. Lots more to dissect in the video (and this entire body of work).
Taylor hasn’t worn much Celine outside of a few photoshoot spreads over the years so this is also a fun designer pull to see.
I’ve thought a lot about the colour palette of the world that Taylor has created with Poets and how it’s one of the most distinguishable things about the Tortured aesthetic we’ve seen so far. Enough so that it’s usurped her beloved (and endearingly noted ‘fuckass’) Olympus yellow candid filter with a drained out world to paint all of her latest social media posts with. To me there’s a lot to wade through there when it comes to black like grief or the poetry of Dickinson-esque shades of white and subsequently all the shades of grey the album itself covers.
But what a delight it is to see a Vivienne Westwood piece on Taylor! I know many of us briefly thought both of the white gowns she’s worn recently were by her so it’s great to see her finally in her wares. This particular long shirt is from the mens line.
There’s so much to dissect in Tortured Poets and beyond into the new visuals for the “Fortnight” music video. Those thoughts, of course, to come. But off the top it feels apt to note the striking modernization of Victorian fashion on display with this piece, particularly of poet Emily Dickinson (Taylor’s distant cousin - genealogy is wild). While Dickinson herself wore a lot of white (which as we’ve seen is TTPD’s assigned eras colour), there’s something to be said here about the similarity it strikes with the custom Teuta Matoshi dresses her backup dancers wear during “my tears ricochet” on the Eras Tour as they march behind her in a funeral procession. Equally, it calls to mind the somber wear of Victorian mourning clothes - widows would often wear black for two years.
This particular piece comes from Unttld’s Fall 2021 collection, noted by the designer as a fulfillment of “19th century fantasy”.
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