Taylor Swift is back at Electric Lady Studios. A few things we know for sure: First, it’s not for recording new music, but to attend the wedding of model Karen Elson and studio owner Lee Foster. Second, Swift’s cut-out dress looks ready for a cameo on one of New York Fashion Week‘s Spring 2025 runways.
Holding hands with boyfriend Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift stopped by her favorite Manhattan recording spot on Saturday, Sept. 7 in a dreamy cut-out dress by Australian label Zimmermann. While she and stylist Joseph Cassell Falconer went the fall route for her Sept. 6 date, with classic knee-high boots and oversize blazers, her wedding guest dress seemed fit for a spring garden party. The piece, which retails for $795 at Saks Fifth Avenue and Net-a-Porter, features a scalloped neckline and painterly florals in asymmetric bunches along the skirt.
Swift’s accessories also gave off Bridgerton promenade energy. She carried a drawstring bag by Vivienne Westwood, one of the designers turning up most frequently in her 2024 wardrobe, that coordinated with the baby blue flowers on her dress. Dainty drop diamond earrings, white sandal heels by Christian Louboutin, and the return of her signature red lipstick completed the look.
Travis Kelce joined Swift for his first Electric Lady Studios visit (that the public knows of) looking the part of a high-profile wedding date. He wore a black Vivienne Westwood button-down top and trousers, plus a pair of coordinating loafers. The couple who dresses together, stays together.
These outfits were a night-and-day shift from their date ‘fits the previous evening, as well as the bombshell Versace denim corset Swift wore to the Chiefs game on Sept. 5. And of course they were: The pair was attending a wedding, after all. Swift’s cut-out dress and Kelce’s shirting look ready for a sail around Newport Harbor. The night before, they matched in moody black outfits with shades of gray thrown in for good measure.
Even if they weren’t adhering to the bride and groom’s dress code, the shift wouldn’t be all that surprising. Swift’s wardrobe contains multitudes even within the parameters of her self-defined album “eras” and the fashion corresponding with it. Take her Tortured Poets Department fashion for example: While the album’s visuals are associated with corsetry, ruffles, and poet sleeves by Westwood, Elena Velez, and Celine (among others)—and she’s worn both plaid skirt suiting and drop waist dresses channeling the album out and about—Swift has still worn a number of romantic outfits during her downtime. She hit the recording studio last summer in an eyelet lace look by Ralph Lauren, and spent her last independent Fourth of July before meeting Kelce in a celebrity-beloved Dôen sundress.
As far as her designer of choice goes, Zimmermann is a frequent player in celebrities’ wardrobes regardless of the season or their current creative project. Jennifer Lopez’s 55th birthday lunch outfit entailed a Zimmermann matching set; Beyoncé, Kendall Jenner, and Katy Perry have also worn the label’s floral linen dresses on several occasions.
Zimmermann has even played a special role in another of Swift’s album cycles. The music video for evermore’s “Willow” features Swift performing in a white Zimmermann dress. That piece is now on display at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
Swift’s cut-out Zimmermann dress probably isn’t the sign of a new fashion chapter, but it is a perfect fashion farewell to summer 2024. Maybe this is a sign to avoid turning our closets over for fall just yet.