Fans love a Taylor Swift fashion moment, and it’s been fun watching her style evolve with each era. From her sparkly cowgirl boots in her early country music days to the glitzy, trendy streetwear looks of 1989, Swift always understands the assignment. Now, Swift is deep in her Life of A Showgirl Era, embracing all the glamorous drama that comes with being a high-wire act. As part of her latest look for the album, she’s bringing back chainmail and, apparently, doing so is no easy feat.
The 35-year-old pop star dazzles in her new music video for her single, “The Fate of Ophelia.” On the whole, this is a massive production, with different sets, dancers, wigs, and of course show-stopping outfits. To fit with the theme, Swift wears lots of feathers and big 1920s showgirl outfits, and she also rocks a few chainmail looks as well. You can see one of them below:
Swift looks incredible, and the dress works perfect for the song and the album theme. It also moves perfectly as Swift dances, giving the whole production more movement and life.
Apparently, though, acquiring the dresses was easier said than done. Per Page Six, the chainmail dresses in the music video and the album artwork photoshoots were designed by Kelsey Randall, who had always dreamed of dressing the pop icon. However, when Swift team got in touch with Randall, details about the project were kept under wraps, which is customary with upcoming Taylor Swift projects. So any custom design she wanted to do didn’t have a lot of direction. Randall said:
When you’re designing for other stars, the stylist might give you a mood board or some sort of idea of the direction, but they really couldn’t say anything about what the vibes were going to be.
At the time, Randall thought the dress might have to do with the rumored Reputation (Taylor’s Version) vault tracks, but it turned out to be something much bigger. Unfortunately, Taylor Swift’s team was particularly interested in a dress that was no longer available due to it being stolen on a photoshoot, so this ended up setting things back. Luckily, she was able to find a never-before-worn piece from her archives that Swift was interested in for her album art.
Afterwards, Swift’s team decided they wanted another dress, this time something custom with fringe, potentially inspired by some of her Eras Tour fashion. Randall’s team worked tirelessly to make it happen as they also wanted a backup dress in a different color. Randall said:
It was such a tight turnaround, and so much labor went into it…[.]We literally ordered thousands of yards of the chain fringe and all the different rhinestones, and by the time the supplies actually arrived, we had 13 days to make the dress.
Thankfully, the whole thing ultimately came together, and Swift looked absolutely stunning. The dress is perfect for both the music and the album art, and it’s so impressive that Kelsey Randall and her colleagues were able to accomplish something so spectacular without having many of the secret details.
Randall credited Swift’s styling team for being so communicative, and also advocating for advocating for her, as she’s a small designer. So this was a major opportunity for Randall. This all goes to show how much thought and effort goes into everything Swift does, not just from the musician herself, but also from the fabulous collaborators around her who help make her vision come to life.
You can see these fabulous chain mail looks by checking out Taylor Swift’s music video for “The Fate of Ophelia” on YouTube. Fans of the pop star should also listen to her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, which is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music. Swifties who love the singer’s fashion looks can also revisit some of her best in the Eras Tour concert film, which is streaming now with a Disney+ subscription.