Behind Taylor Swift’s Beauty Evolution
Image Courtesy: The Tease
In case you missed it: Red (Taylor’s Version) was released on November 12, last Friday. The color red seems to be poignant in Taylor Swift’s career as well as in her own life. Not only does she have a song and an album named after this vibrant hue, but she is similarly known for her signature red lip looks on the red carpet as well as off. However, there’s more than what initially meets the eye behind her style and beauty choices over the years and much of it is reliant upon the stages of life she has cycled throughout.
Taylor Swift broke boundaries in the country music scene in late 2006 with her aptly titled debut album, Taylor Swift. She was only sixteen at the time, and the early 2000s were, of course, a large part of the inspiration behind her makeup and hair. She often arrived at events with bright, pastel eyeshadows and big, bold curls framing her face. Balancing this out were eyes thickly rimmed with dark black liner. This might seem counterintuitive, as thick black liner is often associated with emo music and punk rock, hinting at something angstier beneath the surface. Yet its effect was quite the contrary: it somehow made her look even younger, creating the illusion of bigger eyes: a proper doe-eyed look. That, paired with her puffy, sequined dresses, was all very girly and fairytale-esque, which segued perfectly into 2008’s Fearless and 2010’s Speak Now, albums rife with songs about Romeo and Juliet love stories (Fearless’ Love Story) and feeling like kings and queens (Speak Now’s Long Live).
Her perfect barrel curls and glittery makeup began to fade away following the release of Speak Now as the clock struck twelve on New Year’s Eve, ringing in 2012. As Swift grew into her early twenties, she presumably wanted to move away from the girl-next-door look she had spent the past five years so carefully curating. The original Red era was the introduction of Taylor’s straight hair and sleek bangs, alongside the bright red lip that has since become her signature. She was still having fun with glittery costume changes onstage, but her 50’s and 60’s aesthetic lent much more of a “serious” or perhaps more “mature” feel to her from there on out.
Image Courtesy: StarCrush
The era of Reputation was her boldest and most telling yet. She had just been burned from the Kim and Kanye drama, coming out to release music after over a year of radio silence. Swift was feeling all the angst, which was largely funneled through her stylistic choices. Taylor emerged guns ablaze with a shock of platinum blonde hair and dark lipsticks. Her hair was short and choppy and boyish; no hint of curls remained. It was “Taylor’s version” of punk, another outlet of expression at yet another betrayal from the world for something out of her control. At the very least, her hair and her makeup choices remained within her jurisdiction.
Image Courtesy: Glamour
Taylor has since regained the power and the narrative over her old, controlling record label and certain celebrities who wish to see her crash and burn. She is years into the most stable relationship in her life, she’s out of her hellish twenties, and she is finally feeling most comfortable in her skin. All this shines through in what she opts for in the beauty and stylistic departments. The red lip is still going strong, perhaps a nostalgic callback to times past, but her natural curls spring free, unrestrained in either direction from a curling wand or flatiron. It vaguely resembles a shag, a current popular hair trend, but otherwise, she seems to allow herself to be the most “natural” in comparison to past eras. Swift seems to have finally grown into herself and no longer seeks the same validation from external sources that she once did.
Strike Out,
Writer: Gillian Bennett
Editors: Breanna Tang & Lexi Fernandez
Graphics: Allexandria Clemons
Tallahassee
