In December, Taylor Swift — Time’s Person of the Year — glittered in front of the camera in a black bodysuit, a floor-skimming chenille dress, and a studded bustier gown.
At first blush, you wouldn’t know that the chenille dress was one of Alaïa’s most beloved recent offerings or that the bustier gown was from the NYC-based brand Area, infamous for their campaigns featuring fake eyes and bejeweled death masks. Everything edgy about these original pieces had been sanded, smoothed, and rendered inoffensive — just how Swift likes it.
It is easy to forget that, despite selling a whopping 162 million records, Swift is a normal person with normal taste. It is also easy to forget that those record sales allow her an estimated $1.1 billion fortune, enough to wear any designer piece she wants or hire any stylist across the industry.
So why does she insist on mismatched outfits?
A swipe at several Taylor Swift style blogs will reveal trail sneakers with muddy fleeces, Ren Faire-approved dresses with Jean Paul Gaultier boots, and high-heeled Reformation loafers worn oddly with Chiefs sweatshirts. But these outfits aren’t the result of