ON SHOW
Inside Taylor Swift’s record-breaking V&A museum exhibition with surprise costumes she donated
Video of her career is also beamed on to the walls
TAYLOR SWIFT mania will descend on the hallowed halls of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum when a free exhibition of her outfits opens on Saturday.
Taylor Swift: Songbook Trail will feature 13 stops showcasing costumes donated by the Look What You Made Me Do singer.
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Running until September 8, the display ties in with the school holidays and comes as nearly 500,000 fans are expected in the capital next month for Taylor’s five gigs at Wembley on her Eras tour.
The choice of 13 installations in the hour-long museum trail, created by theatre designer Tom Piper and architect Alan Farlie, is a nod to 34-year-old Taylor’s favourite number.
The V&A has previously hosted exhibitions about pop great Sir Elton John and supermodel Naomi Campbell and expects its latest show to be one of its most popular since the art and design museum began life in 1852.
Exhibits include get-ups from Taylor’s six world tours, her white knit from the video for 2020 hit Cardigan, the dress she wore to the LA premiere of her Eras Tour film in 2023 and the black ruffle frock from the video for latest single Fortnight.
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Of the video’s moody look, designer Elena Velez said: “Taylor Swift x Elena Velez doesn’t make much sense without a good story, which the art directors of Fortnight gave us. I loved the [Frankenstein author] Mary Shelley aesthetic.”
Elena adds that the gown — created from a Victorian-gothic skirt, a bustle from Amazon Prime and yards of fine silk — is about “our relationship to reason and romanticism” and was “stitched together with desperate and delusional tenderness”.
Other fun items include the wig and facial hair Taylor wore in her video for 2020 hit The Man — influenced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s 2013 film The Wolf Of Wall Street — which transformed Taylor into a City boss.
Video of her career is also beamed on to the walls.
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The V&A’s Kate Bailey said: “We are delighted to display iconic looks worn by Taylor, each celebrating a chapter in the artist’s journey. Taylor’s songs, like objects, tell stories drawing from art, history and literature.”
Social media is already buzzing. Posting on X, one fan wrote: “There’s a Taylor Swift exhibition at the V&A?! I’m screaming, crying, throwing up. I need to go.”
Another said: “I have to go to London and see the Taylor Swift exhibition.”
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And fans even hope Taylor pays a surprise visit.
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