Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras by SARAH CHAPELLE contains over 200 photos dating from Swift’s earliest days as a country singer in Nashville, up through the present, paired with insightful commentary. Definitely one for Swifties.

Read on for an extract …

ABOUT THE BOOK

For Taylor Swift, fashion and music go hand-in-hand – each playing a powerful role in shaping the narrative of this generation’s most prolific storyteller. Red lipstick isn’t just a makeup choice – it’s the emblem of an era. A miniskirt isn’t simply part of a cute outfit – it’s a coat of armour. From cowboy boots to teetering heels, fairytale dresses to bleach-tinged tresses, and the many memorable moments in between, Taylor Swift Style tells the fashion story behind every single Taylor Swift album, tracing Swift’s musical evolution along with her ever-changing personal style.

From red carpet looks, to streetwear, to tour costumes, Sarah Chapelle of the successful Instagram and blog Taylor Swift Style has spent more than a decade documenting Swift’s fashion choices and the intention behind each ensemble. Her deep dives into songs, lyrics and behind-the-scenes insights paint a portrait of a megastar who knows exactly what she is doing. Taylor Swift Style explains the ‘why’ behind Swift’s outfits – the easter eggs and deeper meanings behind every hemline and haircut – that speak to the emotional context of each musical moment.

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Prologue

TAYLORING AN IMAGE

I often joke that my relationship with Taylor is the longest one of my life (no offence to my husband). With just three years of age separating us, I saw Taylor as an older sister who was figuring out life and love just like me.

Her early albums are like a scrapbook of my adolescence as both Taylor and I navigated our messy teens and early twenties. I saw my experiences reflected

in all her songs – the high school love falling apart that first summer after graduation (‘Tim McGraw’), the premature nostalgia of being ‘wiser’ and looking back on freshman year of high school (“Fifteen”), the excitement and loneliness of moving out of your parents’ home into your first apartment (‘Never Grow Up’), the whiplash of dating someone who sent mixed signals (“Red”), and the pain that comes when you learn healing isn’t linear (“Clean”).

As she got older and her steps into adulthood became more sure and steady, our worlds continued to parallel and settled into new and nuanced pathways – discovering that home can be a person (‘New Year’s Day’), confronting the terrifying mortality of a parent (‘Soon You’ll Get Better’), and the painful realisation after your 30th birthday that entering a new decade does not guarantee you the answer key to life (‘Dear Reader’). Growing up and figuring out life as a young woman isn’t easy, but I never felt like I was navigating this tumultuous time alone because, like so many Swifties, I had Taylor’s music narrating my existence.

Taylor has always intrinsically understood the power of perception, especially through fashion. Over the years, her style went from being a subtle tool for establishing an image to a strategic art form that communicated directly with those in the know.

I love that fashion represents a visual time capsule of our deepest selves. I can look back on photos of my life and identify when I discovered ballet (slicked buns and soft pastels dominated my wardrobe), when I was first made fun of for being ‘too girly’ and massively overcorrected my outfit choices to be intentionally contrarian (overalls, baseball hats, and tone-on-tone blue ensembles), when I went through my punk rock phase (eyeliner, but only on the waterline – an inspired choice z- band T-shirts, ripped-up jeans, Converse). And so on.

Some could argue these clothes were costumes. But I’d rebut that they were accurate reflections of who I was (or wanted to be) at the time. They represented my interests and my priorities just as much as they acted as both my sword and my shield. Clothes were a way to cover my insecurities like armour and to project how I wanted to show up for other people – and also for myself.

Taylor’s growing confidence in expressing her identity through fashion dovetailed neatly with my personal progression as a fan and admirer of her career. While earning my BA in journalism in 2011, I started the blog Taylor Swift Style. At the time, the only celebrity fashion coverage that existed was published by major print outlets or typically reserved for red carpet event credits.

If you were interested in the cute blouse Taylor wore during her morning Starbucks run in Nashville, you were out of luck. It was a vastly different time from the oversaturated digital space we exist in today.

So, amid lectures that honed my interviewing and research skills and newspaper internships that helped me learn how to dive deep into what makes a human tick and how to tell their stories in compelling ways, I funnelled my growing expertise into the blog.

Through sheer force of will, a dream, and a strong internet connection, I began to familiarize myself with the major fashion houses. I learned how to see house codes in the cut of a bodice, the handle of a bag, or the heel of a shoe. I distinguished the differences between shirt cuffs and dress necklines. From a young age, I had always loved stories – reading them and telling them in equal measure. As a young reporter, I learned the power of details and the importance of accuracy.

These facets formed the tenets of my approach to writing. This is how – beyond Taylor’s lyrics authentically capturing the feminine experience for my generation – all my interests coalesced into a blog and respective social channels. I began identifying Taylor’s fashion and sourcing purchase links for her clothes for other eager and interested fans. I then took it a step further, weaving in commentary on the potential symbolism
and messaging of her clothes along with my personal thoughts on the look she was presenting to the world.

For all this time, I’ve been documenting every one of her major red carpet moments – and all the smaller, but no less significant, moments in between. I see Taylor’s fashion as a natural extension of her music, the visual counterpart to her lyrics. It’s my goal to interpret the subtext of her clothes with the same level of specificity she communicates in her songs.

Just as important, I also want it known that when you think of ‘Style’, I really do hope you think of me.