TSS July 2024

Eras Tour costume additions and the styling of Tay Tourist season

Continuing the monthly recap series is July, the highlight being new costume additions to the Eras Tour lineup in the Fearless, Speak Now, and Tortured Poets sections of the show. July also brought us to near completion of the 1989 2.0 bingo chart, with just two combinations remaining (green / green and green / yellow). So what *does* she have against all green anyway? 

We haven’t seen Taylor utilise London as her European homebase while touring the continent this past summer in the way I expected. This month we did, however, get a peek into the off-duty life of a just a girl traipsing around Europe in between shows with friends and loved ones - as she rightly should. This is July 2024.

July 13, 2024 / Eras Tour / Milan, Italy: One of the most common questions I’ve been asked regarding Eras Tour costuming is if I think new costumes are a possibility on future dates or legs. My answer has always been that a new costume can appear at any time all throughout the tour. It’s like a Magic 8 ball of costumes. Or Russian Roulette but with pretty ball gowns in the place of bullets. Either way! This was a commonality on many of Taylor’s past tours like RED and 1989 when she would break out a one-off costume or a new variant in certain cities. Oftentimes these were cities of significance or popularity like London, Nashville, or Los Angeles (but was also known to happen elsewhere like Toronto or Singapore). The significance of Milan? For starters, it’s one of the fashion capitals of the world so it feels right to launch new costumes in such a stylish city. Fausto Puglisi, the creative director for Roberto Cavalli and designer of many of Taylor’s tour pieces including this new one for the Fearless set, also happened to be in the audience during the Milan shows with his entire team. It also helps that RC is based in Italy so maybe Taylor just wanted to save on shipping fees. How economical! 

After a few more appearances of this new bodysuit (it’s appeared in three of the four cities since its debut in Milan) and much staring I feel I can confidently say that while I appreciate the beautiful work that Fausto has done to refresh and reinvigorate timeless house codes and how appropriately Eras-y that feels as Taylor herself looks back upon and modernises the fashion of eras past, this particular Fearless iteration misses the mark of evoking the original era for me. As I noted in my original post, I personally find Versions 1 and 4 of this costume come the closest to honouring the original aesthetic of the Fearless era while still feeling fresh and new. 

July 13, 2024 / Eras Tour / Milan, Italy: In addition to a new Fearless costume, Taylor fulfilled a prediction I had made early on when I wondered if other versions of the TTPD Vivienne Westwood gown would appear with alternate lyrics from the album. Version 1 appropriately features lyrics from the lead single “Fortnight” where Version 2 references “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”. Version 2 also got a slight upgrade in execution score (don’t mind me I’ve been bingeing Olympic gymnastics) by incorporating black crystal embellishments to give the lyrics that extra bit of sparkle. I’m personally sitting here wondering two things: 1) Where is “The Black Dog” version of this dress? 2) Is there a black version of this dress with white lyrics written on it? 

July 14, 2024 / Eras Tour / Milan, Italy: During Taylor’s second night in Milan Taylor debuted an eighth version of the Speak Now gown. This particular one hasn’t hit the blog / feed as I haven’t received designer confirmation yet but I’m happy to soft launch my thoughts on it for the TSS newsletter. This is the superior of the two purple Speak Now gowns we have. The dress has a dreamy swirly quality to it that feels appropriate to the era it’s paying homage to and coordinates beautifully with the stage visuals on the back screen. The skirt also feels appropriately cupcake-like but not mechanically stiff in the way the Nicole + Felicia tiered purple gown is (the side shots of this bustle from the Eras Tour movie give the appearance of a two person horse costume). If I were to guess based on the embellishments and silhouette which bears strong resemblance to Version 2 this is a custom Zuhair Murad gown. As far as Speak Now gown rankings go I think my top spot is still reserved for the previously new iteration from Reem Acra and Version 1 - a more successful custom creation by Nicole + Felicia. 

July 15, 2024 / Out and about / Amsterdam, Netherlands: While these photos were undoubtedly taken while Taylor was playing shows in Amsterdam, they weren’t dropped by Brittany Mahomes on Instagram until mid-July. As was the case when Taylor had the opportunity to tour the Sydney Zoo, it gives me a warm bit of comfort to know that Taylor’s had the chance in her downtime to play Tay Tourist while overseas on the Eras Tour. Not only that, but the opportunity to do so in private. What’s amusing to me is that this outfit and photo both feel so signature to Taylor. The key giveaways? First, the iconic fuckass filter. Second, the off-kilter styling via the accessories of what is otherwise a ripped-from-the-lookbook Vivienne Westwood ensemble. I’m often asked when it comes to a look if an outfit is coordinated by Joseph Cassell (Taylor’s stylist) or Taylor herself. To me, it’s usually clear when outfits are completely styled by him and when Taylor does a reverse Coco Chanel and adds one thing (or two) before leaving the house. Both the heart bag and vintage-y yellow slides feel recognizable to Taylor’s style, the former actually gave me flashbacks to this similar crocodile leather heart bag she carried back in 2014. However, I think even a pair of buckled mary jane heels and a yellow bag (or a crimson pair of shoes) would have made the styling feel a bit more cohesive to my eye. 

What was your favourite ‘fit from July?