How Taylor Swift's Past Looks Have Reflected Her Real Life

Revisit the superstar's style through the years

By Jess Cohen May 19, 2018 10:00 AMTags
Taylor Swift, Reputation TourKevin Winter/Getty Images for TAS

Taylor Swift is living her best life in the Reputation era.

The 28-year-old "End Game" singer is currently on her stadium tour, playing shows for thousands of fans every week. On top of that, this weekend Swift is nominated for five awards at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. While there's no official word on whether or not Swift will attend the ceremony, she is up for Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Selling Album, Top Billboard 200 Artist and Top Billboard 200 Album at the award show.

Before starting her Reputation tour, Swift stayed mostly out of the public eye, enjoying time away from the spotlight. Around the time of her album release in November, Swift popped up on Saturday Night Live and did a few performances with a new fierce style and a refreshing outlook on life.

Looking back over the years, Swift's style has been a reflection of what she was going through at the time. Let's revisit Swift through her album eras to see how her style reflected her real life.

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Taylor Swift's Reputation Style
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2011 Billboard Music Awards: Swift hit the red carpet at the 2011 BBMAs months after releasing her third album, Speak Now. It was around this time that Swift started experimenting with her style, swapping her cute country curls for long, wavy locks. This red carpet moment showed off a more mature, glamourous side of Swift's fashion game

Swift was really making a name for herself in the music and fashion world at the time, but she was also on the brink of a major change in both aspects of her life as well.

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2012 Billboard Music Awards: The singer showed up to the BBMAs in May 2012 in a bold red dress and bangs! Just months earlier, Swift got bangs for the first time while on the set of a Vogue shoot right before her 22nd birthday.

During this time, Swift was working on her fourth studio album, Red. This album, one of her most powerful and emotional pieces of work to date, would mark the start of Swift's musical transition from country to pop. This transition into a more edgier, dramatic period in her life reflected in her style as well. The same adjectives used to describe her style during this time are the same that could be used for her Red album.

 

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2013 Billboard Music Awards: Months after released Red, Swift was showing off a more sassy side. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail look for the night and wore a short, blue dress. This was the start of the 1989 era, a time when Swift was finding herself as a young woman. She would go on to move to New York City and completely transform her music.

"For 1989 I would watch John Hughes movies and I would think, 'OK, pause, freeze-frame, what's she thinking in this moment? What's he thinking in this moment? Because 1989 I wrote when I was single, I didn't have much intense drama going on, I was like living for my friends and I was living in New York and everything was exciting," she told Ryan Adams during an interview for GQ. "So to access those emotions again I would kind of put myself into other people's perspectives."

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2015 Billboard Music Awards: When Swift stepped on to the red carpet at the 2015 BBMAs, she appeared more confident than ever. With her short hair, cut-out jumpsuit and her bad blood purse, Swift turned heads and made a statement. After heading inside to the show, Swift would premiere her star-studded "Bad Blood" music video, which would make a statement of its own.

It seems that, in a way, this was just the beginning of the Reputation era. It was the start of Swift living her life on her terms, making statements with her fashion, and letting her music do all the talking.

Now, three years later, Swift has put the bad blood behind her and is moving on with her life, embarking on a new world tour and meeting with her fans.