Taylor’s fashion is the oft-neglected half of what makes her artistry so compelling. I have always believed that her music is only half the story - it’s the part that we hear - and the style story is the part we see. And that story is no less vivid and abundant with connotations to interpret.
Sarah Chapelle, AKA @TaylorSwiftStyled, may be the only woman who knows Taylor Swift’s style better than the singer herself. Here, she breaks down the Tortured Poets aesthetic and more.
On Instagram, Sarah Chapelle, who is publishing a book this fall about Swift’s style, likened the gown’s draping to “tangled bedsheets”... Chapelle, who has spent years tracking and decoding every detail of Swift’s outfits, assumed that the gown and its black accessories were Easter eggs.
Sarah Chapelle, a fashion reporter who created the fashion blog and Instagram account Taylor Swift Style, described one of Swift’s style pillars as mixing “high low” pieces or wearing designer items alongside pieces from more-accessible retailers. “This kind of approach really underlines her approachable, relatable image,” Chapelle said.
Are you ready for it? A new Taylor Swift book inspired by her best outfits throughout the decades is headed for bookstores. The book titled Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras doesn’t come out until Oct. 8, but the buzz around it has already landed the tome as a No. 1 bestseller on Amazon for fashion design.
Throughout the twelve games she’s attended, her style has been consistent. Sarah Chapelle, who covers the pop star’s fashion at Taylor Swift Style and is the author of the forthcoming Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras, tells T&C that Swift’s NFL era is “feminine, thoughtful, and on-theme.”
Instead of wearing official NFL merch to every game, Chapelle wrote, she often reps pieces from small and women-owned businesses, as well as brands that offer vintage options. “Opting to spotlight these types of brands,” she wrote, “is a clear reflection of her personal values that will also hopefully have the indirect benefit of creating a market of more options for female fans of the sport."
Sarah began documenting Taylor’s fashion choices 12 years ago – on the very auspicious date of October 13, 2011... and says that her blog, which started on Tumblr, “represented a crossroad of many of my interests and a way to coalesce my passions for storytelling, style, and Taylor into one”.
Sarah Chapelle has compiled the most comprehensive archive of Swift’s outfits on her blog, Taylor Swift Style, and is working on a book about the singer’s approach to fashion. In the 12 years since she started the blog, Chapelle said, Swift’s style has remained “consistently and unabashedly feminine.”
Ahead, shop the 25 best Taylor Swift gifts for fans of every era, onstage and off. The lineup ahead includes Chapelle-recommended pieces worn by Swift, my personal favorites from Swift’s recent street style, and items inspired by Swift’s expansive musical catalog.
For more than 12 years, Sarah Chapelle has catalogued hundreds of pieces of Swift’s style. The fashion blogger can tell you the accessories, handbags, shoes, blouses, dresses, hats, jewelry, you name it the singer has worn in public.
Sarah Kucharski began her blog Taylor Swift Style in 2011 as a first-year journalism undergrad because she recognized a need. “At that time, there was a lot of fashion coverage for celebrities when it came to their red carpet fashion,” she recalls.
Vancouver-based Sarah Kucharski, a 28-year-old marketer who runs a website about Taylor Swift’s style, said, “I am neither blonde nor white, but I still found comfort in something sweet and nostalgic and sentimental.”
What a delight chatting with Elizabeth Holmes, author of HRH: So Many Thoughts On Royal Style. We talked about the founding of TSS, Taylor’s style evolution, our shared love of signature colours (HRH Blue meets TSS Green), and — of course — the outfits and significance of Taylor’s tour wardrobe specifically.
“It came as a total surprise to see her sport Mattie on the album cover – we were genuinely shocked, but thrilled,” Leoné, who launched her line in 2013, tells Billboard. (Billboard contacted Leoné to confirm the cap, seen on Swift’s album cover below, was her design after spotting a tip from the very comprehensive fan-run fashion blog Taylor Swift Style.)
Twenty-four-year-old Vancouver native Sarah Kucharski, the founder of Taylor Swift Style, was early to jump on the celebrity style-blogging bandwagon. “I’ve been following Taylor since 2006 — since the beginning — but I fell in love with her music first."
For Sarah Chapelle, a B.C.-based blogger and author, the amount of criticism Swift has received is proof that the singer is a true force of fashion regardless of what she wears. “Taylor is a style icon because she refuses to be a style icon,” Chapelle says.