Taylor Swift Sets Summer’s Hottest Dress Code: Sequins, Boots, Cowboy Hats

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN

New York (CNN) — What is the dress code for summer 2023? Call it a TikTok-approved coastal cowgirl aesthetic. Or, in other words, the Taylor Swift look.

With the superstar artist coming record crowds for The Eras Tour, retailers across the country are aggressively and inventively marketing the Swifties as his 52-stadium tour hits their cities.

Womenswear company founder Taylor Johnson said that, one Taylor to another, she owes Swift a big thank you for going on tour again and making glittering sequin dresses, cowboy hats and rhinestone boots. It’s already become a crazy year for us because of Taylor Swift, said Johnson, CEO of Hazel & Olive.

One of their dresses in particular, called The Eras Sequin Fringe Dress, which sells for $129, is on fire. Our phones blew up and we got hundreds of calls and Instagram messages about that dress, she said.

Francescas, a fashion chain with 454 stores nationwide, expected the Swifts tour to have an impact. But ruffled, prairie, babydoll and bow-back dresses see a 30% increase in sales in stores when Swift is in town, said Leanne Neale, vice president of concept and creative at the Houston-based company. .

Fashionable clothing chain Altard State has proactively embarked on Swift mania in curation of looks of his collection for each of Swift’s albums. Enter your Era, it invites.

The Ticketmaster Mess

Swifts The Eras Tour, was infamous before it even started. The concerts were so eagerly awaited that the presale of tickets on Ticketmaster became a highly publicized debacle. Ticketmaster blamed the extraordinary request for crashing its website and ultimately canceled ticket sales to the public. Many were left without a ticket even after purchase.

The mess drew the ire of lawmakers, leading to a Justice Department investigation and a congressional hearing.

Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans for the terrible experience and said it would work to bolster our technology for the new bar which was established at the request of the Swifts Tour.

It was too little too late for some fans who took Ticketmaster (and parent company Live Nation) to the court.

But the show must go on, and it did, Swift heading to New Jerseys MetLife Stadium (82,500 capacity) for shows during and over Memorial Day weekend.

On the fringe

At Altard State, Weve never prepared stores this way, but called it Taylor week, said merchandising director Callie Lewis. Models wearing Swift-inspired looks are placed front and center in their stores along with other concert-friendly merchandise, such as see-through handbags that adhere to concert hall safety protocols.

What’s moving? Everything from sundresses and metallic boots to romantic and breezy maxi dresses, tulle tops, bold red dresses and many, many and a lot of fringe. We can’t restock fast enough, Lewis said. Top sellers include lavender-colored clothing (inspired by Swift’s song Lavender Haze.)

Swift isn’t the only concert tour to influence the fashion industry in 2023. Neale de Francescas said she’s eyeing Beyonces Renaissance visit is also driving demand for concert wear. Francescas stores, she said, will also be curating looks that will appeal to BeyHive.

Retailer Johnson admits all this mad rush for product is a good deal to have, given that up to 80% of Hazel & Olives’ monthly orders are currently for concert looks. (She declined to disclose her annual sales, but said she ran a multimillion-dollar-a-year small business.

Johnson said she orders the maximum quantity of the most requested concert styles from her supplier, but even that hasn’t been enough lately.

As soon as I get more inventory, it sells out quickly, she said, adding that she even steals goods at a higher cost from her suppliers in China, instead of shipping them by sea like she usually does, in order to expedite delivery. As for Taylor Swift’s business boost, Johnson said she’s grateful for it.

It’s crazy. I need Taylor Swift to go live all year, because we were now on the verge of having our biggest ever sales year, she said.

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