"Taylor Swift Style" Author Breaks Down the Singer's Chiefs Game-Day Outfits: 'A New Genre of Her Fashion' (Exclusive)

10/10/2024 11:14 AM

Fashion writer Sarah Chapelle talks with PEOPLE exclusively about Swift's Chiefs looks, from vintage sweatshirts to supporting female-owned brands

Taylor Swift is in her football fashion era, showing the "So High School" singer in a whole new light. 

Since going public with her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, Swift has been giving "loving him was red" a whole new meaning by repping her boyfriend's team colors. 

From vintage Chiefs sweatshirts to custom-made jackets, fashion writer Sarah Chapelle, the person behind the viral Taylor Swift Style blog, tells PEOPLE that Swift's game-day looks are something we've never seen from the singer before.

"The Chiefs football style is a really fun new genre of her fashion in that it's fashion that isn't centered or about her," the author tells PEOPLE. 

While Swift has been known to drop Easter eggs in her outfits from time to time, Chapelle says she doesn't "interpret her Chiefs fashion as personal Easter eggs" as she doesn't believe that's Swift's "intended function" for the looks. "I try to look at it through the lens of being a joyful supporter, being in a joyful supporting role," Chapelle elaborates. 

"I love the playbook that she's developed for her Chiefs uniform, so to speak. It's a uniform of its own," Chapelle continues, specifically pointing out Swift's vintage fashion pieces, such as her sweatshirt from clothing brand Ellie Mae Vintage and oversize '90s tee that she wore as a dress in September. 

Related: The Cutest Photos of Taylor Swift Cheering for Travis Kelce at Kansas City Chiefs Games

"[It] has a really great sustainability factor, and also doesn't overtly scream commercialized merchandise because she's simply just there to be excited and be in this supporting role," Chapelle says, adding that with her various game-day outfits, Swift has also been "supporting smaller, independent, often female-led designers." 

In January, Kristin Juszczyk, the wife of San Francisco 49ers player Kyle Juszcyzk. went viral when Swift donned one of her designs — a custom puffer jacket pieced together from Kelce jerseys.

"I'm so grateful for her," Juszczyk told PEOPLE of Swift wearing her design. "I feel like she's single-handedly catapulted my career. So I'm extremely grateful for her. And just the amount of support that she gives women and small businesses. I mean, how could you not love Taylor?"

Most recently, Swift donned DIY glitter freckles by female-owned Fazit Beauty, which also quickly went viral online. In a video shared by her sibling, the co-founder Aliett Buttelman tearfully reacted to Swift wearing her product online.

"Since Taylor wore the Gold Stardust Speckles, the response has been nothing short of incredible," Buttelman told The Daily Mail of the incredible fan response. "In the last 15 hours alone, sales and website traffic have surged by 2,500 percent." 

When Swift supports Kelce in the stands, Chapelle notes that the singer is likely very particular about what she wears as she knows the effect it will have. "When she's there, she's obviously there to support, but I think she's also aware that her body in a sense acts as this billboard for brands because her style is so documented at these games," Chapelle continues. "So it's nice that she takes that opportunity as a way to highlight smaller brands and often female-led brands." 

Chapelle also points out how Swift has been repping "a lot of local Kansas City brands" with her various game-day looks, including a vintage '90s sweatshirt procured from retailer Westside Storey. "What an amazing way to spotlight the community that she's a guest in and warming up to and being in that community," Chapelle says. 

Related: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Relationship Timeline

While Swift's clothes have taken the majority of the spotlight, every Swiftie knows the devil is in the details. With each outfit, she cleverly pairs jewelry that features sweet nods to her relationship with Kelce, including monogrammed pieces and friendship bracelets. 

However, Chapelle points out that Swift has "always loved a monogram," including T necklaces, TS earrings and a TS ring.

"A fun thing about Taylor's fashion is watching it evolve to suit the phase of life that she's in, but there are also a lot of recognizable constants in her fashion and her style, which I think is also key to the relatability factor and the resonance factor of her visual iconography of being able to say, 'Oh, yeah, that's a Taylor Swift look.'" 

Chapelle first started documenting Swift's style with her notable blog in 2011 and since then, it has evolved into something much more, with the fashion writer amassing over 400K followers across Instagram and X.

Now, 13 years after writing her first blog post, Chapelle is putting all that hard work into a book dedicated to Swift's fashion, aptly titled Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras. 

"Both music and fashion act as a time capsule to anchor ourselves to a point in time, and that's the thing I love about this book is that it's this fashionable and musical evolution through the eras," she says. "I hope that this book provides an opportunity for new fans to catch up on this visual legacy that she's had while also giving older fans this beautiful and lovingly packaged book that walks through some of the fondest memories of the last two decades of her career. It's just this beautiful love letter to her fashions."

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