Taylor Swift's Style Doesn't Get Enough Credit
What comes to mind when you think of Taylor Swift? Do you picture her in her edgy black get-ups post fall-out with Kim and Kanye? Or the colors and sparkles she donned when she released Lover? Every time Taylor releases an album, she recreates her entire image to match the aesthetic. The way she reinvents herself every few years with her style sets her apart from any other musical artist.
For the first half of Taylor’s career, she generally kept up her innocent, all-American image by wearing dresses as girly and glittery as her guitar. The release of Taylor’s album reputation in 2017 was the beginning of her reputation of creating what fans refer to as “eras” that coincide with each album. An era covers everything that you could associate Taylor with during the creation, release, and performance of each album—color schemes, outfits, textures, phrases, etc. One fan on Twitter writes, “When I was making this cake, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Lover era,” attaching a photo of her colorful cake with gold butterflies.
Let’s start with reputation (2017). After the lengthy drama with Kanye West, Swift metaphorically fell from grace in the public eye, but she came back stronger than ever with an album about her relationship with the media and the betrayal and back-stabbing she’d been experiencing—all with a sexy, hard-edge never seen before. Her performance and tour costumes, including custom Christian Louboutin thigh-high boots, perfectly reflected the album’s message.
Next, we have Lover (2019). After a handful of colorful Instagram posts, fans figured that those colors would be a clue of what was to come in her next era. Taylor hit us with an album that feels like a rainbow turned into sound. Many note this might be Swift’s happiest album to date. The cover art alone features pink clouds and a sparkly heart painted around Taylor’s eye. Her style in the Lover era was full of bright colors, pastels, sparkles, sequins, butterflies, blue or pink dyed hair, and everything romance. Can we make some noise for the pink and yellow J. Mendel dress she wore to the Time 100 gala?
Her latest reinvention was something of a two-parter, surprising fans by dropping folklore in August of 2020 and the sister album evermore four months later. Even more shocking was how easily Swift conquered the alternative, indie style previously unknown in her discography. There is something inexplicably vintage about her folklore era, and not just because of the black and white album cover. The intentional graininess to her photos, dressed in classic plaids, stripes, and simple dresses elicit the exact nostalgia she sings about in the album. She must have known that she would nail the cozy atmosphere in her song “cardigan,” as she sells the cardigan she wore in the music video as very successful merch on her website.
The arrival of evermore in December was perfectly timed as Taylor warmed up her aesthetic for the holidays. This last album calls for warm colors, big coats, fuzzy sweaters, and wearing cloaks in a snowy forest. If folklore was perfect for the transition from summer to fall, evermore was made for fall and winter. The mix of fairy tale warmth and holiday blues featured in the album is seen in the rich colors and textures of the more mature outfits Taylor wore in this era.
Taylor Swift is a chameleon when it comes to her music and style. Whether her joyful pop album calls for pink and sparkles, or her moody indie tracks inspire a cozy, vintage look, Swift is able to fully embrace a new aesthetic with each album release in a way that no other artist can.