‘Bigger than fashion?’ Why Taylor Swift will never be a style icon: the billionaire star has never collaborated with a luxury brand, skips fashion weeks and often goes high street
- Unlike A-listers like Beyoncé, Zendaya and Harry Styles, Taylor Swift has never done fashion weeks, or luxury brand collaborations – and many style critics have been less than thrilled by her ‘authentic’ style choices
- Swift ‘cannot style a dress. Or a skirt. Or anything’, says Fashion Magazine – but at this point ‘she doesn’t need the stamp of approval from Anna Wintour’, defends @IDeserveCouture
Most people with an algorithm handy or even a tenuous enjoyment of fashion have basked in the phenomenon that is the celebrity “fashion girlie”.
This growing cohort cements the end of celebrity dressing as simply the pursuit of hotness – as dictated by the male gaze, naturally – whether on the red carpet or en route to Cannes. According to fashion girlies, being a sartorial nerd – and pulling the looks off with fierce aplomb – is the most potent form of relevance in today’s Insta-glam age.
Last year, as the media furore around Swift’s personal life rendered her a full-time tabloid fixture, fans and indifferent social media users alike were served a paparazzi-fuelled stream of off-duty looks, including an oversized rugby shirt with riding boots, and a corset-style denim minidress paired with glittery silver heels.
Online reactions averaged lukewarm at best and provoked derision at worst, with Jenisse Minott writing for Fashion Magazine: “According to many Swifties and non-Swifties alike, she can write [songs titled] ‘Style’ and ‘Dress’, but she cannot style a dress. Or a skirt. Or a blouse. Or anything.”
Not everyone in the online community thinks Swift a poor dresser, but the consensus is clear – her absence from brand campaigns and front rows only reinforces the fact. “Do I like her style? Most of the time, yes. Is she a fashion icon? Unfortunately, no,” says Hanan Besovic, the effusive face and voice behind Instagram account @IDeserveCouture and a self-confessed Swiftie.
According to culture writer Emily Kirkpatrick, Swift’s status as a fashion anti-hero almost certainly functions as part of her meticulously constructed personal brand.