The opening night of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” in Glendale, Arizona, was last weekend with a three hour and 10-minute long setlist that covers 44 songs from every album she’s ever released.
The country-turned-pop star has a specific aesthetic associated with each album that represents an “era” of her life. Swift fans, aka Swifties, are known for overanalyzing every detail in her life.
In true Taylor Swift stan spirit, here’s each era’s aesthetic broken down.
1. “Lover” Era
After her “Lover Fest” tour was canceled due to COVID-19, Swift decided to open the show with “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” from her album “Lover.” Fun colors, sequins and fringe all represent “Lover”, which explains her custom, pastel Versace bodysuit that matches the vibe perfectly.
The bright looks still managed to represent her maturity and new optimism towards loving herself and others. The handmade bodysuit by Donatella Versace and silver studded Christian Louboutin knee high heels were paired perfectly together, but fans did not realize the full potential of the outfit until Swift threw a matching sequin blazer on top.
The blazer was worn for “The Man” – a song that represents everything Swift stands for. The oversized and masculine structure of the blazer contrasts with the shiny silver sequins. Swift made a statement by wearing the blazer for the rest of the performance, showing the imbalance between men and women not only in the music industry, but in every perspective of life.
She had on her signature red lip, which stood out between the monochrome silver outfit. That was until she sat down, propped her feet up and flashed the crowd with the matching red on the bottoms of her Louboutins.
2. “Fearless” Era
Swift came out for the next era in a golden fringe, flapper-like dress while performing the title track “Fearless.” Custom made by Roberto Cavalli, the champagne colored dress is a staple in the “Fearless” era.
Teenage romanticism is a consistent theme throughout this era, and Swift shows that youthful freedom in the way she moves her body during classics like “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story.”
On the second night of the tour, she swapped out the short fringe for a longer version of the dress, also handcrafted by Cavalli.
As she jumps around on stage and shakes the fringe, she reminisces on her past, proving that she is fearless. She even recreates some of the same moves from her “Fearless Tour.” The inspiration behind the golden dresses on “The Eras Tour” comes from her original dress worn on her debut tour, also paired with her classic red lip and winged eyeliner.
3. “evermore” Era
TikTok Swifties are quick to assume that the “evermore” era is Swift’s least favorite album, but she proved them wrong when she mentioned this on the opening night of the tour.
As she sat down at her green, moss covered piano, she wore a deep mustard colored floor length dress with a lace-up corset top custom made by Etro. While at the piano, she discussed her writing process during quarantine for this album, the sister album to her previous one, “folklore.”
The sister albums were unlike anything Swifties had heard from her, so the aesthetic was something new. Unlike her past performances in bright pastel colors or long fringe, “evermore” can be described as a cottage core aesthetic.
From “’tis the damn season” to “champagne problems,” Swift had the crowd screaming the lyrics while she put the same emotion into it on stage.
Cozy sweaters, plaid, braided hair and long dresses are all ways to represent “evermore.” To match the simple vibe of her indie era, there was no need for Swift to make a large, flashy production out of this set. She knew the words would speak for themselves.
4. “reputation” Era
Swift’s “reputation” era was a time of owning up to the negative reputation she’s earned from the press. Swift showed she wasn’t afraid of the media through dark colors, edgy patterns and snake print.
Before this album, she was seen as a typical American sweetheart, but after Kanye West publicly humiliated Swift by taking her award on stage and Scooter Braun stole the rights to her music, Swift wanted to prove she could stand up for herself and was unafraid.
Her edgy persona officially began after leaving the public eye for months. In her song “Look What You Made Me Do,” Swift claims the old Taylor can’t answer the phone “cause she’s dead.”
On opening night, she brought back the snake theme from her 2018 “Reputation Tour” by wearing a black and red high-leg, asymmetrical jumpsuit covered in a snake that wrapped around her leg. The snake represents all the fake people who’ve betrayed her throughout her career.
Also made by Robert Cavalli, the jumpsuit embodied her drastic change from being a “good girl” to making one of the biggest comebacks in the music industry. This dark energy delivered on stage brought many fans back to the fierce energy seen in Swift’s 2018 stadium tour.
5. “Speak Now” Era
Once the first show ended, the “Speak Now” portion of the night left Swifties confused.
“Enchanted” was the only song played from the album, so fans began to speculate why Swift chose only one song. Conspiracies about hidden easter eggs formed on social media.
Fans believe that “Speak Now” was only performed for a short amount of time because Swift will soon release her re-recording of this album. Back in 2010, Swift wrote and produced the entire album on her own, so this era is associated with her independence and femininity as an artist.
Although Swifties were disappointed with the single song, she made up for it with the gold and white sequin Nicole + Felicia Couture ball gown. The dress was different from what most fans would have expected, since this era is associated with the color purple, but no one was complaining after seeing how alluring the dress was.
6. “Red” Era
Swift recreated the iconic “22” music video look by changing her white tee from “Not a lot going on at the moment” to “A lot going on at the moment.” This change demonstrates how far she has come since releasing the original version in 2012.
Another hypothetical easter egg that fans are considering is that each letter highlighted in red on her tees spell out “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).” The deep red color used in this era is a representation of the heartbreak that came from it. Other ways to recognize this era is with scarves, high waisted shorts, vintage dresses and lots of stripes.
After performing classics from this album like “We Are Never Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” Swift took off her T-shirt, revealing a red and black ombre bodysuit underneath. She eventually threw a red sequin trench coat over the bodysuit and took out a matching red guitar for the 10-minute performance of “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”
7. “folklore” Era
As soon as “invisible string” started to play, Swifties could see long, flowy, muted-lavender fabric draped across Swift. The ruffled dress was a custom Alberta Ferretti.
The “folklore” era is much like the “evermore” era with its fairy-like outfits, and this dress represented it perfectly. This summer-to-fall aesthetic is seen through the gingham prints, light cardigans and, most importantly, the wispy bangs.
The dress follows Swift as she runs between each side of the stage during the performance of “august.” The flow of the material explains the emotion Swift felt during this era. On night two, however, she swapped out the purple for a cream version of the dress, also custom made by Ferretti.
8. “1989” Era
The “1989” era was a time of paparazzi, parties and polaroids for Swift. Switching back to her sequin and fringe, she comes out in another custom Cavalli.
The two-piece set, covered in different shapes of dark pink fringe, moved effortlessly during dance pop songs like “Shake It Off” and “Bad Blood.” On night two, she wore an identical set, but in a lime green color with matching shoes.
The “1989” era was when Swift officially became known as a true pop star. She was known for her short hair, funky colors and multitude of skirts. Polka dots also played a huge role in this aesthetic, but Swift uses a more mature version of this look for “The Eras Tour.”
9. “Midnights” Era
The most recent era for Taylor Swift was her “Midnights” era, which was released shortly before her tour. Swift’s whimsical pop side returned with this album.
Diamonds, navy blues, dark purples and stars are just a few of the ways to recognize this era. The original sequins and glitter aesthetics were also brought back with this album, which made Swifties happy.
She started this era off with “Lavender Haze”, wearing a sequined, lavender mini dress with a fluffy feathered coat on top, custom made by Oscar De La Renta. Swift left the coat behind when she went to perform “Anti-Hero.”
The final look of the night was a black sequined bodysuit with a fringe bottom. Fans thought that was it – until a rainbow fringe jacket was draped over her while she performed the final song of the night, “Karma.”
