Taylor Swift Is Giving

Taylor Swift fans fully expected the 33-year-old pop star to go full 1989 at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards—and she completely defied expectations. Instead of wearing 1989 blue, Swift donned… Reputation black?

Sometimes Swifties may pull conspiracy theories out of nowhere, but the “Anti-Hero” singer has been known to use the red carpet to preview her upcoming projects. Just take last year’s VMAs when Swift arrived in the most bejeweled naked dress to ever naked-dress. Though she was nominated in five separate categories for her 10-minute video for “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” her outfit did not feel remotely Red-coded. Sure enough, she won three Moon Men that evening and used the event to announce her album Midnights, which was released in October 2022.

This year Swift swept up 11 nominations, making her the most nominated artist of the evening and giving her a chance to take home the fourth video of the year award of her career. Still, while Swift is being celebrated for her Midnights album and ongoing Eras Tour, her ensemble possibly hinted that she might already be working on rerecording her sixth album, Reputation.

If Swift is hinting that a Reputation (Taylor’s Version) is imminent, this would be the perfect outfit for it. In the way that Reputation was thematically edgier than Swift’s previous albums, this figure-skimming black gown represents a tougher version of Swift’s usual style. The dress features an uneven sweetheart neckline, with studded details on one shoulder strap that are repeated across the body of the dress, leading to a particularly daring thigh slit.

She accessorized with piles of necklaces, strappy black sandals, and an almost mullet-esque hairstyle that is strikingly reminiscent of the hairstyle Swift wears on the original Reputation album cover.

Taylor Swift announced the upcoming release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) during her Eras Tour stop in Los Angeles on August 9. “The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th,” she wrote on Instagram that same evening. “To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!”