Remember when Taylor Swift wore drag in ‘The Man’ music video

Editor’s Word: Delving into the archives of popular culture historical past, “Bear in mind When?” is a CNN Fashion collection providing a nostalgic take a look at the superstar outfits that outlined their eras.

CNN
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A person dances on the top-deck of his non-public yacht, swigging champagne from the bottle, surrounded by bikini-clad girls. He’s closely fake-tanned, his darkish hair is coiffed. However this isn’t a person — it’s Taylor Swift.

Again in February 2020, Swift had not but introduced her Eras Tour (now the highest-grossing tour of all time); launched any of the 4 new information which have come since, or begun re-recording her earliest work. She was, as a substitute, nonetheless busily selling her seventh album, “Lover,” and premiering the self-directed music video for its fourth single, “The Man.”

All through the video, and underneath a number of kilos of prosthetic make-up, Taylor — showing in drag as “Tyler” — swans round a boardroom, smokes on the subway, and events on the non-public yacht as lyrics lament the double normal between women and men. Tyler is praised for issues that real-life Taylor can be shamed for: the place she is impolite, he’s daring; issues that make her grasping make him a go-getter. It’s on-the-nose, nevertheless it will get her level throughout.

In addition to sporting a wig and pretend facial hair, Tyler’s wardrobe as “The Man” options snugly-fitted fits, tennis whites and a brown suede dad jacket. Nevertheless it’s his gaudy outfit from the yacht that’s been chosen for show in a brand new exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), picked as being definitive of the complete “Lover” interval.

“Taylor Swift: Songbook Path” traces the star’s meteoric journey from childhood to the current day, spreading 13 displays of costumes, props and devices from Swift’s private archive throughout the museum’s numerous galleries.

The centerpiece of Swift’s look from “The Man” is a black, pink and gold silk Versace shirt, worn with matching sneakers and a pair of white linen Tommy Bahama trousers. Enormous black aviator-style sun shades obscure half of Swift’s face, whereas hefty gold rings and a gold chain full the garish look.

“(The costume) is immediately recognizable, and it’s notably flamboyant,” Kate Bailey, senior curator at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, informed CNN. “It does a lot storytelling inside that Versace ‘bling’ aesthetic. It speaks volumes — and I by no means thought in one million years we’d be displaying a beard and facial hair!”

However Swift was not the primary pop star to don drag for the digital camera. The members of Queen famously appeared as girls within the 1984 video for “I Need to Break Free.” In 2009, Mariah Carey dressed as a male stalker in her “Obsessed” video, whereas Woman Gaga solid her personal campy drag character, Jo Calderone, to star within the video for “You and I” in 2011. Zayn Malik and Troye Sivan have additionally revealed drag personas on display (“Finest Tune Ever” and “One Of Your Women,” respectively), and Little Combine carried out as drag kings of their video for “Confetti” in 2021. As her personal alter-ego, Swift is visibly — even by means of all of the make-up — having the time of her life taking part in the manspreading, leering parallel model of herself.

This period was arguably Swift at her most overtly political. In June 2019 she launched her star-studded video for “You Want To Calm Down,” a track celebrating Pleasure, in addition to launching a petition in help of the US Equality Act. “The Man” was a equally impassioned swing at Swift’s personal experiences of sexism throughout her profession. The video got here out lower than a month after her documentary, “Miss Americana,” which explored comparable themes.

“You’re type of doing a relentless technique in your head as to how to not be shamed for one thing on any given day,” Swift mused throughout one scene, filmed whereas she was writing “The Man.” “However you then get accused of being calculated for having a method. You kind of do should twist your self right into a pretzel on an hourly foundation.”

Within the years since “The Man” premiered, Swift has launched 4 new albums — plus 4 re-recordings — however none appear to have impressed the identical fledgling political engagement as “Lover” (Earlier than he withdrew from the race, the Biden marketing campaign had hoped, to no avail, that Swift would echo the help she gave him in 2020). As an alternative, Swift has settled again into the acquainted grooves of affection, heartbreak, and fringed bodysuits. She does put on a blazer to carry out “The Man” on tour — nevertheless it’s rhinestoned. At the least, with Tyler’s yachting garb on present on the V&A till 8 September, followers can look again on one of the vital memorable chapters in Swift’s style historical past.