LONDON — Designing Taylor Swift‘s costumes for the “The Eras” tour wasn’t a one-off project, but a whole, multilayered production. Just ask Fausto Puglisi, creative director of Roberto Cavalli, who designed 20 different looks for “The Eras” tour, which kicked off last year and began its European leg in May.
The Sicilian designer created a series of outfits ranging from a hand-embroidered one-leg catsuit with snake motifs to a fringed gold dress and two embroidered skirts with a matching bralette in green and red Swarovski crystals.
Swift added her personal touch by insisting on color blocks for the pieces. “I love it because it reminds me immediately of Miami Beach,” said Puglisi, who relished the challenge of dressing Swift for such a high-profile moment.
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“The queen deserves a collection. She’s a queen nowadays — look at the way she excites the people. I’ve always had this connection with artists. It started with Madonna and I admire them. They’re [Madonna and Swift] artists with a capital A,” Puglisi said in an interview.
“I’ve always created with passion for musicians, it’s connected to my DNA,” he said.
Swift has already worn Puglisi’s two-piece pleated skirt and bralette with matching ankle boots in gradient hues of yellow, orange and pink. Two more versions of the outfit have been made, in turquoise and purple and in purple and green colorways.
Swift and Puglisi go back a long way. In 2014, the singer wore one of Puglisi’s designs from his now-closed eponymous label. She wore another look in 2017 for her “Look What You Made Me Do” music video.
For this tour, Puglisi worked with Swift’s stylist, Joseph Cassell Falconer, for the singer’s on- and off-stage looks.
The designer said the embroidered pieces Swift wore during the “1989” segment of “The Eras” tour are his favorite and makes him feel “so much younger than what I am.”
“When we were talking about designing for that section of the tour, I knew that Taylor used to wear these flattering A-line skirts, which are very American, fresh, young, and cool, but I wanted to create something different. I wanted to add some fashion with a capital F,” he said.
Puglisi multiplied the beads, sequins and colors for a tour of Swift’s scale. He didn’t hold back, or try to fit into the current trend for quiet luxury.
A lover of pop culture and music, Puglisi said he finds it disappointing when his peers who share the same interests decide to ignore that on the runway.
“They present a kind of woman during the catwalk [shows], and then they design for celebrities with a concept that has nothing to do with the woman they’ve just shown on the catwalk. I believe it’s kind of unfair, but there are [still] a few designers” who connect their runway designs with their stage ones, he said.
Puglisi is certainly consistent. He took the same maximalist approach to Swift as he would do with any of his clients.
At Roberto Cavalli, Puglisi is never shy about injecting color, print or embroidery into his collections. Everything he creates goes back to his love for pop culture.
He attests that the world doesn’t need any more clothes, but rather feel-good fashion, and compared the act of shopping to streaming music on Spotify or Apple Music.
“Fashion is connected to desirability. It doesn’t mean it has to be unwearable. An oversize, silk white shirt is the most beautiful thing to me — you can share it with your boyfriend, wear it as a dress or tuck it inside pants,” he added.
Don’t be surprised, then, if Swift appears on stage as a vision in white silk before “Eras” ends later this year.
