Taylor Swift’s first public appearance after her breakup proves she is still bejeweled.
The news about Taylor Swift’s breakup with her boyfriend of six years, Joe Alwyn, triggered an array of reactions from Swift’s fans. The headlines propelled many into deep distress while others were frantically wondering how Swift would confirm it: social media or subtle “surprise song” hints at her next Eras concert. Swift had other plans, though – one that did not involve any words.
Three days after news of the split broke, Swift stepped out for dinner at Via Carota in New York City’s West Village, and her attire and demeanor told her fans everything they needed to know.
Swift wore a black off-the-shoulder top from Mytheresa paired with high-waisted jeans embellished with a bejeweled butterfly and heart-shaped stitching on the back from the same brand and carried a glittery Paco Rabanne handbag as she walked to her car.
It was a sharp pivot from the last time Swift made her initial post-breakup appearance. In 2016, after her split from actor Tom Hiddleston, paparazzi captured Swift leaving the gym with shaggy bleached hair and relaxed attire: black Perverse sunglasses, a black tank top and leggings. She completed this look with a smug smile of liberation.
This time, however, there was no coy smile — this was Swift’s “I’m okay” moment.
Swift and Alwyn’s relationship was much longer than hers and Hiddleston’s, and has defined much of her discography. Through her past five albums, Swift alluded that this relationship was the truest form of romantic love she had experienced, and Alwyn himself co-wrote several of the songs on those albums.
On the one hand, Swift’s look signaled the end of a chapter in her life. Her funeral-black top might point to the “death” of her relationship with Alwyn. Fans noticed similarities in the top’s neckline to Princess Diana’s all-black “revenge dress,” worn after the demise of her marriage to Prince Charles and her relationship with the royal palace.
However, unlike Diana and Charles’ messy divorce, which was full of infidelity and animosity, Swift’s break-up with Alwyn purportedly was “amicable” and " not dramatic," Entertainment Tonight reported — and her attire reflected that.
Swift’s fans are well-attuned to her love for “Easter eggs” – hidden clues for fans – and the butterfly-embellished jeans paired with the heart stitching were just another example. A partial nod to her “Lover” era — an album largely representing her love for Alwyn and their relationship — Swift tried to show her fans that, despite a vast portion of her life ending, she is grateful for her experiences with Alwyn and the music that spawned from that relationship.
Swift also alluded to a beautiful new beginning, as butterflies are a symbol of rebirth, transformation and happiness.
“A lot of the time I’ll pick something that I think symbolizes something else like…a butterfly which is kind of just breaking free from the darkness and, you know, fluttering into the light,” Swift said in a promotional video for Lover.
Swift, likely aware of the panic within her fandom, put their concerns at ease. She wants her fans to know that she is happy and healthy and that they can all rest easy — she’s a diamond, and she’s going to shine.
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