Is this romantic Nashville pop star too young to be a fashion icon?
Sometimes it’s easier to encapsulate a person’s style (as well as the fashions of a decade) by looking back on it from several years distance.
So how would Taylor Swift’s style be summarised in ten years time? Would she still be on the radar? As a fledgling at 23 years old, I also realise that she is too young and too current to be considered an ‘icon’.
I’m reminded of that interview where Jenni Falconer was berated back in 2004 by Lauren Bacall for calling Nicole Kidman a ‘legend’. “She can't be a legend at whatever age she is. She can't be a legend - you have to be older,” said an exasperated Bacall.
But Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop stars in the world right now. She’s on the covers of fashion magazines, her love life is analysed incessantly (she’s not that needy, just young and romantic in my opinion), and the country pop star is positioning herself as one of the most watched women in the world, as well as being the highest paid entertainer under 30.
As someone who has made their name writing country love songs, Taylor Swift’s style is non-threatening; girlish but chic. In a recent Vanity Fair article, she described her Nashville apartment as Alice in Wonderland meets Peter Pan, and I’d say this is reflective of her indulgently romantic style too. She’s someone who likes to proclaim on stage, “I’m Taylor, I write songs about my feelings.”
Her song Love Story was her first hit in the UK, and it marks her style of music celebrating the romantic, the fairy tale, as well as lamenting unrequited love and with some revenge thrown in, particularly with the addictive karaoke song We Are Never Getting Back Together.
After persuading her family to move to Nashville so she could pursue her dream to be a country star, Taylor got her big break at the age of fourteen. She began her career in cowboy boots, hippy dresses and with a guitar strap around her neck. Over the years she’s gone for more sophistication with Grecian style gowns and sequined dresses that suit her romantic nature.
As a 23 year old, and having experienced nine years in the business, she has remained steadfast and grounded, some would say a bit dull, but she certainly knows her audience. She doesn’t go in for Rihanna raunch – instead it’s wholesomeness that befits a singer who acts the big sister to her young fans.
Maybe the most edgy she’s been was in the music video for I knew You Were Trouble, a song which drops in the dub step and was given the seal of approval by Lily Allen. In the video, she’s a young clubber in the desert, abandoned by a no-good man by sunrise, with pink dip-dyed hair and a black hole T-shirt.
But she loves dresses, and probably the girlier the better. In the past year she has earned $57 million – and you can buy an awful lot of dresses with that money.
Taylor told Harper’s Bazaar that when she was 15 she ripped out a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow in that pink Ralph Lauren gown she wore when she won her Oscar, and went round the shops trying to find something similar to wear to her prom.
She said that she loves dresses: “whether it's a summertime dress that makes me feel carefree, an evening cocktail dress that makes me feel fancy, or a vintage dress that makes me feel like a '50s housewife, which I enjoy feeling like, for some reason.”
Get the look
Right now, Taylor’s look seems to be about shorts and brogues. On stage recently in Newark she wore a jaunty pair of red brogues, leather shorts and a lace shirt with Peter Pan collar.
Blouse
This white blouse with a ribbon and dark stitching is similar to one she wears in the artwork for Red.
ASOS Blouse with ribbon detail- £36.00
Shoes
Taylor is very tall, and so regularly wears flats. In anticipation of her latest album Red, she went for that colour in a big way – and often chose to wear a pair of scarlet-hued brogues.
H by Hudson Olsen brogue pink calf leather from Office - £150.00
Shorts
This leather pair is similar to the ones she wore on stage in Newark.
Topshop Premium Leather Shorts -Price: £65.00
Hat
In recent song 22, she hangs with her friends and ‘dresses up like hipsters,’ in a bowler hat and slogan T. Try this one from Topshop
Roller Bowler Hat from Topshop - £25.00
Dress
This Audrey dress is available in a number of different colours, but lemon is a great shade for this spring.
Audrey Dress by Jones and JonesPrice: £60.00
Make-up
Taylor is going for red lips in a big way (her album is called Red).
Try Nars velvet matte lip pencil in Red Dragon - £17.50
She also goes with a winged effect on her eyeliner.
Bobbi Brown’s little pots of long-wear gel eyeliner glide are a favourite for this eye liner effect - £17
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