Taylor Swift’s concert outfits have been evolving long before she embarked on the Eras Tour. From the sundresses and cowboy boots of her debut, country music days, to her designer Victorian gowns fit for a tortured poet – she has done it all. As the tour name suggests, she and her fans have categorized her discography into eleven distinct “eras.” Each era comes with a unique aesthetic and showcases Swift’s evolution as an artist. At The Eras Tour, each album is performed as its own set, complete with unique choreography, stage settings, and wardrobe.
At her stop in Paris, France from May 9-12, 2024, Swift debuted a plethora of new outfits (and an entirely new set following the release of The Tortured Poets Department) all matching the themes of each era and record. Clothes tell as much of a story as lyrics do, so how do Taylor Swift’s concert costumes reflect her evolution as an artist?
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Swift begins the show by emerging from the stage from underneath a swath of sheets held by her dancers, mirroring the famous Botticelli painting “The Birth of Venus”. Her 2019 album Lover was in a sense a rebirth for Swift, emerging musically from the darkness of reputation and metaphorically “stepping into the daylight”. This era is coloured with pastels, pinks, blues, and purples all swirling together in a dreamy haze. In the beginning set of the show, Swift is all glitter, with an array of Versace bodysuits that she switches out each night, coupled with knee-high Christian Louboutin boots, all in the signature hues marked within the Lover aesthetic.
She couples this bodysuit with an array of blazers for her performance of her single “The Man”. The blazers – also done by Versace – correspond with a different bodysuit, and while they have the same sparkle and shine, have a more masculine cut to fit the theme of the song. With the cancellation of Lover’s headlining 2020/2021 tour, Loverfest, this is the first time Swift has been able to display the aesthetics of this album in a stage setting – and she delivers.
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Fearless
Swift goes back to her country roots for the second set of the show. Her 2008 sophomore album Fearless is the most awarded country album of all time and took home Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammys. The album is playful and youthful, while still teeming with Swift’s signature cutting lyricism about growing up and heartbreak. It tells stories of fairytales: castles and princes and princesses and falling in and out of love from the lens of a teenage girl. Her costuming during this era accentuates the playful feel of the album while giving a nod to outfits from her 2009 Fearless tour. She has a rotation of short, fringed dresses from designer Roberto Cavalli in the album’s signature gold and silver, paired with bedazzled pseudo-western style boots from Christian Louboutin.
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Speak Now
Swift’s 2010 album Speak Now has many similar themes to her previous album Fearless, but now comes from the more mature perspective of a young woman who has learned a lesson or two. She still speaks fondly of fairytales, with talks of castles and wistful lyrics about love and nostalgia in songs like “Mine” and “Enchanted” – which is the only song on this album she performs in the main set on the Eras Tour. This album also comes with more cutting ballads about her own lived experiences, and her own internal struggles with growing up, heartbreak, betrayal, and fame in songs like “Dear John” and “Innocent”. Her country roots are still evident throughout the record, but we see a little bit of pop-punk influence on certain tracks as well.
Swift leans fully into the fairytale in her set on this tour, with an array of different bustling ballgowns from many different designers (Ellie Saab and Zuhair Murad to name a few) in various shades of pink, purple, and gold. She is the princess and the heroine of this fairytale, and she needs no prince to save her – but she’s enchanted to meet you regardless.
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Red
Red was the first album where Swift fully leaned into making more pop-forward music, and the first album where we saw her really catapulted into the pop mainstream. With hits like “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” – which went number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift brought in famed pop producer Max Martin to work with her on this album; his influence is evident in the more bonafide pop hits like “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “22.” The record still had lots of country influence intertwined in tracks like “Treacherous.” Red is Swift’s quintessential break-up album, telling the story of a young woman who is attempting to navigate the complex feelings that come with dwindling relationships and dying romance, all while coming of age.
She has three stages to her look for the Red era on tour. The first is a callback to the iconic look from her “22” music video, where she sports a wide-brimmed black hat, loafers, high-waisted hot shorts, and an oversized t-shirt that reads “Not a lot going on at the moment.” (She has since expanded her collection of t-shirts to include a variety of other phrases related to the record and her fandom zeitgeist – the most recent installment debuted at her Paris shows in May 2024 read “This is not Taylor’s Version”).
She sheds the t-shirt and hat during her performance of “22” (which is bestowed upon a different fan selected from the crowd each night, usually selected by her mother or a member of her team — a callback to the days on previous tours where fans would be selected in a similar way to meet Swift backstage after the shows) to reveal a sleeveless bodysuit by designer Ashish. For the staggering ten-minute finale of the Red set, Swift sports a floor-length red and black bedazzled coat (also by Ashish). In this finale, she performs the ten-minute re-recorded and extended version of her power-ballad hit “All Too Well.” This song tells the story of a whirlwind love affair with a tragic end, teeming with imagery of autumn leaves and falling snowflakes, and Swift plays our ill-fated storyteller with a coat to keep her warm.
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Reputation is a complete energy shift in the show and was equally as unexpected as an album release in 2017. Reputation was Swift’s comeback album after a tumultuous period in her career; a result of a conflict with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian that stained her squeaky-clean public image and caused her to effectively go into hiding. Swift announced Reputation on her Instagram (after completely wiping her social media) and the dark and vengeful aesthetic came to the shock and delight of many fans. The first half of the album is full of bass-filled, hard-hitting, hip-hop-inspired beats with imagery of snakes, betrayal, and revenge with songs like “I Did Something Bad” and the lead single “Look What You Made Me Do.”
The back half of the album mellows out, and through cracks in the shiny new persona, fans see a more vulnerable side of Swift during this era, who had found love at a time when she was at her lowest personally and professionally. In songs like “Delicate” and “New Year’s Day”, Swift is very tender in her lyricism, with a common theme of a “saviour” who truly liked her for her, not who the media played her out to be.
Notably, the Reputation set on the Eras Tour is the only set that has one costume (whether this is intentional, we don’t know, but Swift always has a trick or two up her sleeve). The asymmetrical black body suit from designer Roberto Cavalli is adorned with red snake appliques winding their way up from her ankles to her shoulders. The snake motif is the most commonly associated with this era and is unlike anything Swift has done up to that point (and unlike anything she has done since). This era is dark and edgy, with a vulnerable underbelly that is reflected through her meticulously planned and designed wardrobe.
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Folklore/Evermore
Swift’s sister albums Folklore and Evermore came as a complete surprise to fans in 2020 and have since been hailed as some of her greatest work to date. These records are a complete switch-up for Swift stylistically, lyrically, and in production. Swift is usually known for writing auto-biographically, typically “writing what she knows”, treating her songs more like a diary entry and drawing on her own lived experience to tell her stories. In Folklore and Evermore, Swift writes weaving tales of fictional love triangles and poetic prose that carry immense emotional weight and lets fiction take the reins of storytelling.
The general vibe of these records is very laid-back and dreamy, and Swift has said on tour that she imagines imagery of ivy-covered cabins in the woods, which is where the main motifs of these albums come from – namely the iconic Folklore cabin she performs in.
Her style in these eras on tour (which, as of the Paris stop shows, have been combined into one amalgamated era lovingly nicknamed “folkmore”) emulates the dream-like, storybook, aesthetic of the albums. In the since-retired standalone Evermore set, Swift switched between two bronze and orange Etro gowns paired with woodsy lace-up boots (we have yet to see if these dresses will make a reappearance on tour). Though, she still sports the floor-length, forest green, hooded cape for her performance of her single “Willow,” For the combined set, Swift has a swath of draping, flowing gowns by designer Alberta Ferretti, perfect for running and twirling around on stage to capture the drama of the stories she weaves — showing traces of her fairytale past.
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1989
With 1989’s 2014 release, Swift had evolved into a full-fledged pop princess. Up until the release of her most recent two records, 1989 was Swift’s biggest release of her career and her full foray into the world of pop. She partnered again with Max Martin who produced with her on Red and began her long-standing partnership with Jack Antonoff. She took home Album of the Year for the second time at the 2015 Grammys and hits like “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space” rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and stayed there for weeks. 1989’s jump in genre also came with a jump in theme for Swift. Although still very auto-biographical, full of break-up ballads like “I Wish You Would” and “All You Had To Do Was Stay”, the main theme of this album revolves around independence and healing; finding love within yourself and learning to come to a place of self-acceptance with songs like “New Romantics” and “Clean.”
Until recently, Swift sported a beaded two-piece in a rotation of colours by designer Roberto Cavalli, paired with her signature bedazzled Louboutins – this time in an ankle boot with matching colours to her set. In Paris, she debuted new mismatched two-piece sets (also by Roberto Cavalli), complete with mismatched boots. Both iterations of these outfits are callbacks to looks from her 1989 World Tour, where she fully leaned into the 2014 style trends – skater skirts, bomber jackets and all. These outfits fit the playful energy of the album, similar to the playfulness and fringe we saw in Fearless, but with a more mature energy fitting for a 25-year-old Swift traipsing around New York City – and it’s been waiting for her.
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The Tortured Poets Department
In the newest addition to the Eras Tour setlist, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) made its show-stopping debut in Paris. TTPD is Swift’s latest release in her discography, and her biggest commercial hit to date. On its surface, TTPD is a scathing break-up album filled with tales of a doomed rollercoaster of a love affair that leaves our tortured poet broken and bleeding, as shown with songs like “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” and “The Black Dog.” When dissecting a little further, TTPD is a look into Swift’s relationship with fame, and how she grapples with her place in the industry, her unparalleled levels of success, and the parasocialism that comes with her celebrity status, best showcased in songs like “Clara Bow” and “But Daddy I Love Him.” It’s a rereading of “the manuscript”, of her life and career.
The section of the show dedicated to TTPD is an utter theatrical spectacle. She emerges from the stage in a custom Vivian Westwood gown, plastered with lyrics from the lead single from the album “Fortnight”, and arguably the thesis of the entire album: “I love you, it’s ruining my life.” As she transitions into her performance of “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” Swift wears a tattered general’s coat to lead a drum-line army, taking metaphorical shots until she is flayed on stage for us all to witness. She is revived in a short segment by her dancers, in which she undresses to reveal a sparkling Vivienne Westwood two-piece set underneath her gown. She straps on her “stilettos for miles” and wears a glittering tail-coat (very reminiscent of the ringleader look from the Red Tour) and performs the final song of the set: “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart”. This performance is overwhelmingly self-referential and has many nods to choreography from all the other sets on the Eras Tour, and overall showcases the best of all Swift can do.
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Midnights
Swift emerges from a cloud of smoke and clouds to kick off the final set of the show: her 2022 album Midnights. Swift had been garnering a lot of hype off the release of the rerecorded versions of Fearless and Red in 2021, so her first original studio album release in two years was highly anticipated. She brought back Jack Antonoff for his pop production and ended up taking home Album of the Year for a record-breaking fourth time at the 2024 Grammys. Midnights is technically the headlining album for the Eras Tour, as the tour was announced nearly in conjunction with the release of the album. This only built more hype around the record, especially considering Swift hadn’t been on a headlining tour since 2018 with Reputation.
Midnights was marketed by Swift as an anthology of sleepless nights, and tales from throughout the nearly two decades of her career. She pivots back into pop after her stint in folk with her previous two albums. Midnights is full of dreamy synth beats and brings back her quintessential pop sound in tracks like “Lavender Haze” and the lead single “Anti-Hero.” The lyricism in this record is seemingly confident, but also teeming with anxiety. Many songs delve into anxiety regarding her relationships – romantic, with fame, and with herself. Swift expresses a lot of self-criticism in Midnights, but also matches it with self-love, best contrasted in the singles “Anti-Hero” and “Bejewelled.” It’s hazy and dream-like in aesthetic, drawing on 70s influences in terms of style.
On stage, Swift starts the set in a sequined t-shirt style dress, topped with an oversized, purple fur coat both by designer Oscar de la Renta, paired with her signature Louboutins, this time in a midnight-blue knee-high style. As she transitions into “Anti-Hero” she sheds her coat, and in a jaw-dropping on-stage quick change during “Midnight Rain”, she reveals a midnight blue body suit dripping with intricate beading and rhinestones (she has many variations of this bodysuit by various designers – Oscar De La Renta and Zuhair Murad to name a few). She closes out the show in a colourful fringe jacket, swishing around the stage matching with all of her backup dancers and singers.
This is Taylor Swift Fashioning Her Journey – Evolution of Swift’s Concert Costumes… Swift drips with self-confidence in the closing part of her set, giving off the playfulness that is so characteristic of her discography.
No matter what era she is in her career, or the genre of music she is dabbling in, the one thing Swift is always able to do is have fun with what she does, and her costuming reflects that. From the sparkling fringe of Fearless and Midnights, the rhinestones and sequins of Lover, TTPD, and 1989, or the flowing, fluttering gowns of Folklore, Evermore, and Speak Now, Swift always embodies an aura of joy on stage – and she truly does make the whole place shimmer.
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