Taylor Swift played “New Romantics” and “New Year’s Day” as her surprise songs at last night’s final show of the U.S. leg of the wildly successful Eras Tour. While those songs certainly fit the occasion, I think it would have been more fitting if Swift had played her song, “Question?”, because boy, do fans have a lot of them. At the top of the list is Karlie Kloss and her Eras Tour look. It was chic, understated, and honestly, confusing.
For the 52 nights of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour thus far, the crowd has arrived at the shows in Eras Tour-specific ensembles. Thousands of versions of Taylor Swift’s nostalgic outfits, costumes with niche song lyric references, friendship bracelets, and Eras Tour merch have filled stadiums around the country. Dressing up is an unofficial requirement for attending. As someone who attended the tour twice (humble brag), I can confirm that it would be very strange to see someone not dressed to the theme in attendance.
Do you know what would be even weirder? If Karlie Kloss, Taylor Swift’s former BFF attended the final night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles and she didn’t dress to theme. Throw out your Eras Tour bingo card because on the 52nd night of the tour, Karlie Kloss did just that. What does it all mean? As a Taylor Swift fan and a fashion writer, I will do my best to break down the meaning of Karlie Kloss’s Eras Tour look for you.
In this essay, I—I’m kidding, kind of. I think a great place to start when evaluating the events of August 9th, 2023 at SoFi stadium in Los Angeles, is to first look at the outfits Taylor Swift wore. Swift has gone on record to say that she leaves Easter eggs on clothing or jewelry. If you’re a Swiftie, this is not new news.
Last night, at the August 9th show, Taylor Swift appeared on stage in new blue costumes, signaling her highly-anticipated announcement of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Blue is the color Taylor Swift chose to represent the 1989 album era and last night, she let it wash all over her other eras as well.
Taylor Swift’s 1989 era, which began in 2014, signaled her transition to pop music and a corresponding upbeat public lifestyle. It also was the peak of her close relationship with supermodel Karlie Kloss. The once inseparable duo held hands as they walked down the Victoria’s Secret fashion show runway, appeared cheek-to-cheek on the cover of Vogue, and took turns wishing each other a happy birthday in sentimental social media posts. While Kloss and Swift have always publicly identified as friends, there’s a large online fanbase behind #Kaylor—an unconfirmed theory (emphasis on unconfirmed) suggesting that the pair was romantically linked. Regardless, the 1989 era was, without a doubt, infused with Karlie Kloss.
However, the pair had a rumored falling out and have not been seen publicly together since 2016. It seems as if Karlie Kloss took some Taylor Swift lyrics to heart with her attendance at last night’s show and “just showed up at [her] party”. While most celebrity guests were seated in Taylor Swift’s coveted VIP tent, Karlie Kloss had a seat in the bleachers with general admission. Based on video footage of the evening, Kloss sang, danced, took photos with fans, and even filmed herself singing “Shake It Off”.
Now that you have some background, let’s talk about Karlie Kloss’s outfit. Kloss wore, in true supermodel off-duty fashion, a pair of Adidas Samba sneakers, baggy jeans, a white vest, and small black sunglasses. You can see full photos of her look here. In any other environment, her outfit would be unassuming, minimalist chic, and trendy. In the shiny, rainbow, and sequined Taylor Swift Eras Tour environment, Karlie Kloss’s outfit had the opposite effect. She stood out (though I’m sure her 6’2” height didn’t help).
By dressing down and sitting in general admission, Kloss gave off the impression that her attendance was casual—kind of like how baking cookies in your best friend’s kitchen is casual.
Additionally, since Karlie Kloss’s Instagram and TikTok comment sections are consistently flooded with mentions of her relation to Taylor Swift, she had to have known that her attendance at the concert would cause a media frenzy (point proven).
By choosing not to dress for any era at all, Karlie Kloss ensured that no additional retrospective meaning could be applied to her outfit or her relation to Swift. Whether it was intentional or not, Karlie Kloss’s presence for the announcement of the resurgence of Taylor Swift’s 1989 era was enough of an Easter egg. Perhaps Kloss’s simple outfit will be a canvas for a new era for the two former friends—and if we’re lucky, this era will have a lot of vests.
