‘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

Feb 1 , 2024

Taylor Swift “cannot style a dress. Or a skirt. Or anything”, claims one critic at Fashion Magazine; others appreciate the down-to-earth authenticity of her off-duty looks, like what she wore for this outing at a recent Kansas City Chiefs match on January 13. Photo: AP Photo

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”.

Exhibits A-D: Rihanna, Chloë Sevigny, Hunter Schafer and Taylor Russell – famous faces who exemplify the buzzword by donning surreal Schiaparelli and Loewe creations, swathes of archive Alaïa, or waist-cinching Mugler frocks.

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.

Taylor Swift’s divisive red carpet style, as she arrives at the 81st Golden Globe Awards earlier this month. Photo: Invision/AP

But is it really? The most notable outlier is possibly Taylor Swift, who is midway through her record-breaking Eras Tour. Swift is currently one of the most famous people in the world and one of pop culture’s most influential voices. She wears clothes, yes, and often looks great in them. A fashion girlie, however, she is not.

[Taylor Swift] doesn’t need the stamp of approval from Anna Wintour and the fashion world because, at this point, she’s bigger than fashion

Hanan Besovic, @IDeserveCouture

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.”

Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift, loose and casual while leaving an SNL after-party in New York, in October 2023. Photo: Mega/GC Images

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.