For some Taylor Swift fans, securing a coveted ticket to the Australia leg of the superstar’s Eras Tour was just the start of their stress — it was time to start curating the perfect concert outfit.
Swifties who knew their way around a sewing machine and a hot glue gun got to work.
For others, fast fashion retailers were quick to offer up enough cowboy boots and sequin mini-skirts for every era.
Dressing up for concerts has been happening for decades, and Taylor Swift isn’t the only performer who inspires fans to follow a dress code.
Feather boas were the must-have accessory for Harry Styles’s world tour last year, though concert goers from London to Sydney were criticised for leaving a massacre of feathers in their wake post-show.
Beyonce went a step further and for her birthday asked fans attending her Renaissance tour during Virgo season to don their “most fabulous silver fashions.”
And who is going to say no to Beyonce? And on her birthday?
But what separates Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour from her peers is how it spotlights just how elaborate concert outfit culture has become.
For some fans, the desire to get involved can quickly tip into pressure to look the part, or risk feeling left out among hundreds of thousands of fans.
‘I have to be part of this club’
Writer, editor and podcaster Jasmine Wallis has been a Swiftie for years but had never seen the singer live until she touched down for three shows in Melbourne earlier this month.
“I’d seen all the Eras Tour outfits from the US so I knew it was a big occasion and people dress up and it’s very much a celebration of girlhood,” she told ABC News.
“I suddenly felt all this pressure to dress up sparkly and sequined.”
While her friends started making their own outfits months ahead of the February tour, Wallis knew she’d buy something closer to the date, then suddenly found herself cutting it close.
“I probably spent about two hours on my computer on Sunday night going through all these websites that I’ve never even looked at before,” she said.
“From a value perspective, I try not to not buy fast fashion in general but especially not ultra-fast fashion.”
After realising nothing would be delivered in time, Wallis went in-store and found herself considering a $70 sequin mini-skirt “that was falling apart in the dressing room.”
“I was still like ‘no, I should buy this because I don’t want to be left out’. It was really weird, the FOMO culture of it all.
“Even as a 27-year-old with critical thinking skills, who talks about fast fashion all the the time, I was still just like ‘I have to be part of this club.'”
Wallis ended up wearing a silver sequin skirt borrowed from a friend, who bought it specially for the Eras Tour but had decided on wearing something else.
“I probably saw 100 girls in the same skirt, but it was really fun to wear something I wouldn’t normally wear and feel sparkly and glittery and paired with things I already own.”
According to the Australian Fashion Council (AFC), Australians buy on average 56 items of clothing annually, with 200,000 tonnes of clothing going into landfill every year.
“While fashion can bring people such joy, uplift experiences and allow us to creatively express ourselves, we know that it also has a large impact on the planet,” an AFC spokesperson said.
“Sustainability and circularity are increasingly important to customers, and it’s essential to a resilient and thriving industry — businesses that don’t adapt and evolve will be left behind.”
Taylor Swift has toured Australia multiple times before, but fans have noticed a distinct shift in the look of the crowd for the Eras Tour.
“Friends who had seen her before were like, ‘this is a new phenomenon, when I saw the Reputation tour people weren’t dressing up like this,'” Wallis said.
While Wallis suspects social media might be fuelling fans’ desire to dress up more, her personal want to dress up “came from this being one of the biggest pop culture entertainment moments in the last decade in Australia, I’d say maybe even more, and wanting to capture the moment and really get involved.”
‘I’ve joked that I’ll be buried in it’
Scores of Swifties were inspired to DIY their own Eras Tour outfits, including 25-year-old Izzie Peachey who started working on her look before international tour dates were even announced.
“While Taylor was touring through the US I loved seeing other people make their own outfits and knew this was something I wanted to do myself,” she told ABC News.
“When I first laid eyes on the original pink and blue Lover bodysuit, I was absolutely obsessed.”
For Ms Peachey, the process of recreating the bodysuit Swift wears to open her blockbuster show took five months.
“[I] can safely say I spent over 100 hours working on it,” she said, adding the look involved 12,000 rhinestones and upwards of 7,000 sequins, all individually hand glued and sewn.
“Gluing rhinestones is easy, the most time consuming part was definitely sewing sequins. I also unpicked and re-sewed a lot of them because the colours weren’t right.
“I really wanted to make the bodysuit as close to the original as I could.”
Ms Peachey says she’s had offers to purchase the bodysuit, but “I worked too hard on it and it means too much to me to give away.”
“I’ve joked with my family and friends that I’ll be buried in it!”
“There was such an incredible vibe and sense of community at the concert where everyone was constantly complimenting each other’s work and craftsmanship.”
It was a similar story for Jacquie Addison, with the 24-year-old deciding to make her own outfit after securing a ticket.
“I was shocked my friends and I were actually able to get tickets so I decided it was probably a once in a lifetime event and I wanted to go all out,” she told ABC News, adding she had seen others’ homemade Eras Tour outfits on TikTok.
Despite Ms Addison’s only previous sewing experience being “Year 9 home economics where we made pencil cases,” she recreated Swift’s intricate Midnights bodysuit and tinsel jacket she wears for the show’s big finale.
“I spent seven months overall making the whole outfit. I did the jacket as a break from rhinestoning the bodysuit at times,” she said.
While Ms Addison created her own look, she understands why others turned to fast fashion.
“I think for us younger generation at the moment it’s hard buying slow fashion or being able to afford the more environmentally friendly options.
“[We’re] already spending so much money on tickets and accommodation alone, so I can understand people looking to fast fashion options.
“I think it’s at least good that people are reusing and selling what they’ve bought for the concert as it will save some people buying from the fast fashion stores.”
Ms Peachey says she never considered buying an outfit, but respected those who purchased something brand new for the occasion.
“There is no doubt that the fashion industry needs to change,” she said.
“In saying that, Taylor’s Eras Tour is a cultural phenomenon and a once in a lifetime experience that most people will remember for the rest of their lives.
“And if having the perfect sparkly outfit is important to them, as it was to me, then wear whatever you want.”
‘An insurmountable amount of sequins in op shops’
It’s a sentiment echoed by Sam Todd, the owner and fashion designer behind the brand The Volt.
Like fast fashion brands, Ms Todd tapped into the phenomenon of the Eras Tour and designed a clothing range of prints featuring subtle nods to Swift’s discography.
But unlike fast fashion brands, every garment from The Volt is handmade by Ms Todd.
“[Sustainability] has been at the forefront of the brand from the start. It’s always been made in really small batches here in Brisbane,” she told ABC News.
“And we love to do these exclusive limited collections just like the Taylor Swift one and the Harry Styles one before where we only get a limited amount of fabric so we’re not left with all of this waste afterwards.”
And it’s been a hit, with the Eras Tour-inspired collection being The Volt’s most popular collection of all time, “especially the Reputation print,” Ms Todd adds.
The collection was designed to be worn multiple times long after Taylor Swift has jetted off, so the garments feature versatile patterns that work with an existing wardrobe — with not a sequin in sight.
“You just know there is going to be an insurmountable amount of sequins in the op shops over the coming months.”
Ms Todd has been running her own business for five years and says she’s noticed a shift in consumer behaviour post-COVID.
“People, and myself included, don’t really want to buy a piece just to wear it once and then never again.
“We’re all a bit more savvy with our money now, especially when you’re buying slow fashion and it’s a little bit more expensive. You want to know that you’re gonna get so much more out of it than just being able to wear it once.”
When designing her latest collection, Ms Todd wanted to appeal to “all levels of Taylor Swift fans, because there’s some people who are all in and want to do crazy costumes, and then there’s also people who are just a bit more casual and want to wear a skirt with a nice top.”
Despite being a business owner and lover of fun fashion, Ms Todd says “you absolutely don’t have to go over the top and dress up if you don’t want to.”
“I hate to say this as someone who owns a brand who makes concert clothes, but we’re going to be sitting in the grandstands in the dark. If it’s not for you, you don’t have to do it.
“But if you love fashion and dressing up, this is the perfect occasion.
“I think the pressure is only created from social media,” she adds.
“Once you’re there and you’re at the concert you’ll see so many people who aren’t dressed up, who aren’t there to take photos and you’ll be totally okay.
“Which is so it’s such an oxymoron for me to say as someone who is getting up and taking photos, but it’s the truth.
“It’s not for everyone and that’s so fine.”