You Look Like Taylor Swift
“Just be yourself, there is no one better.”
~ Taylor Swift
With the Eras Tour in full swing and the release of TTPD, I felt it was time to immerse myself in the Swiftie universe! The costumes for the tour are mesmerising with their polychromatic sparkles, ‘era’ details, and their hidden meanings. I found my way down a rabbit hole after Googling the different outfits for each song and each city, and with her imminent arrival to Dublin, I was ready to take on the task! As a lover of fashion and fashion illustration, drawing beautiful outfits has been a passion of mine since I was a child (remember the ‘Fashion Wheel?’) I even composed my own catwalk collections which I think I still have in a binder somewhere!
I wanted to create a tour poster which was retro inspired (like a mid century film poster), and which showcased a few of the outfits from the Eras Tour. I would have liked to have illustrated all the outfits, but alas time was against me! I chose the costumes which would suit the composition I had in mind, and of course the selections which I most wanted to draw.
I love the unconventional compositions of mid-century posters, with the layering of figures, and the playfulness with scale. I was also inspired by the fun and colourful lettering of these types of posters. This was also the best style of composition to maximise the number of Taylor’s in the piece, as I could layer them behind one another and also use her as a framing device and to hold the lettering.
The sketch came about quite organically after I had researched poster imagery and her outfits. I knew I wanted the hat to be a prominent feature as it’s quite an important and famous prop within her show. I also wanted to give prominence to her beautiful Versace bodysuit with its hypnotising sparkles! After researching her most known poses during particular songs, I included ‘the man’ pose, along with her sequined ‘13’ guitar, her archer pose, and a couple more stances which are quite recognisable of her style of movement on stage.
The colour palette was largely inspired by her hair tone, and her signature red lipstick. The bowler hat also made it easy for me to choose the background colour along with using this colour for all the darker shades in the image. I also chose to showcase the outfits from N1 of her Dublin tour as an extra special nod of her arrival to our shores. With all the details of each outfit, it was an exciting and fun illustration to zone into and enjoy the process.
I decided to print the final illustration on a sparkling paper which glistens under the light or with certain movements. I felt it was the perfect choice for a show that was full of glitter, sequins and sparkles! You can purchase your very own Eras Tour poster in my shop; and have a permanent (shiny) memory of this epic tour and lady. Click on my YouTube video below to see some of the illustration process and how I have been packing my Taylor shop orders (there’s more pink and glitter involved!) Thanks for reading! ~ Rachel x