What to Wear to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour When You’re Old and It’s Cold…

When I first got my Eras Tour tickets, I figured I’d probably just wear my usual jeans/leggings to the show – maybe splash out on a Taylor Swift t-shirt or hoodie if I was feeling particularly fancy. Because it’s a concert, and you really just want to be comfortable for it, right? Especially when the concert in question is 3.5 hours long, and the only tickets left were standing ones. So, jeans/leggings, trainers, and a t-shirt: sorted. Or so I thought. 

The more photos I saw of other people’s Eras Tour outfits, though, the clearer it became that here was a bona fide excuse for me to get ridiculously over-dressed, and not feel stupid about it for once. (Well, not TOTALLY stupid, anyway. When you’re me, you always feel at least a LITTLE bit stupid, no matter WHAT you’re wearing, but you get used to it. Eventually.) And, I mean, I wear jeans or leggings all the freaking time: why would I want to turn up at a spectacle like the Eras tour looking like I’d taken a wrong turn on my way home from the school run? 

Exactly. 

I had a dilemma, though. The fact is, I’m somewhat of an ‘elder’ Swiftie. And as much as I believe that you should wear whatever the hell you like, whatever your age, I would also have to confess here that these days there are definitely things I’d have happily worn as a teenager, say, which I’d feel really uncomfortable in now – both literally and figuratively speaking. I really didn’t want to wear a “costume”, much as I love seeing everyone else’s. I didn’t want to have to buy something I’d only wear to the show, then never again. (Look, the Lover bodysuit is amazing, but it wouldn’t be very practical on the school run, would it?). I didn’t want to be cold, or spend the day feeling horribly self-conscious in an outfit that didn’t feel like “me”. So I over-thought it for way too long, then I hit up Vinted, where I found myself a very dramatically sequined skirt that I told myself I’d be able to wear again at Christmas, and a ‘Taylor’s Version’ t-shirt that I could wear… well, pretty much anywhere you can wear a t-shirt, basically. 

“I’ll say I’m supposed to be ‘Mirrorball’ if anyone asks,” I told myself, knowing perfectly well that literally no one would ever ask me which Taylor Swift song or era I was supposed to be dressed as. It’s just not something that comes up much, is it? But I had my answer, just in case it did, and I had an outfit that was suitably ‘extra’, while still consisting of pieces I’d be able to wear again. 

OR SO I THOUGHT AGAIN.

The thing I hadn’t really taken into account in all of this was that this is Scotland. Our Eras Tour tickets were for Edinburgh night 2, and Edinburgh tends to be a pretty cold, windy city, even in the summer. 

“How bad can it really be in JUNE, though?” I asked myself uncertainly. 

Oh. 

Honestly, this is unusually cold, even for Scotland. It’s actually not far off the kind of temperatures we’ve been getting in the middle of winter. And you’d think I’d be used to it by now, having lived here my entire life, but the fact is, I cannot cope with the cold. I’m one of those people who’s shivering the second the sun goes behind a cloud, even on the hottest of days. I rarely wear short sleeves, or remove my jacket. I have to have a completely separate wardrobe of holiday clothes, because there are so many items of clothing I’m only ever warm enough to wear when I travel somewhere hot. 

Our show was on Saturday. 

There was absolutely no way I was going to be able to wear a t-shirt without having to put several layers over the top of it. And although my skirt looked fantastic (or I thought so, at least) with a fitted top, as soon as I tried it on with one of my padded coats or jackets, it went straight to Frumpsville, without passing ‘Go’. (And, yes, I know, there should be no possible way for a dramatically sequined skirt to look frumpy, but trust me: it did…)

So, with just two days to go before the show, and no time to hit the shops, I went online and panic-bought…

a) a thermal vest. (By which I mean a long-sleeved base-layer, not whatever it is people outside the UK think of when they hear the word ‘vest’…)

b) a slightly less dramatic sequined skirt, which I wore with a thick jumper (and the aforementioned thermals…) instead of the planned t-shirt:

I’m claiming this is Tortured Poets Department themed, because it’s white, but then I kind of ruined that by having to wear a jacket over the top:

(I wasn’t really expecting to like this skirt much because it was such a last-minute panic-buy, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by it, and, unlikely though it might seem, I reckon I will probably be able to wear it again, especially if this Christmas is anything like the last one was in terms of parties. I’ll hopefully not have to wear the thermals with it next time, though…)

I also took my winter puffer coat with me, tied around my waist. From what people who’d attended Friday night’s show had said about the temperature, I was assuming I’d need it for the entire show, basically, but, surprisingly, I didn’t actually have to put it on until we left the stadium at the end of the night, so I guess all of those other layers did the trick (and I could probably have worn my original skirt after all…). I was a little bit chilly during the last couple of sets, sure, but because I was dancing and enjoying myself, I didn’t feel cold enough to break out the Big Coat until after the show, at which point I was really glad of it, because yes, it was freezing. 

(Oh, and I’m also wearing not one but TWO pairs of nude tights, here: one sheer pair, and one fishnet. I honestly hate the way this looks, but bare legs isn’t really an option for me in 7°C, so I had to just suck it up…)

Here I am in the stadium:

A lot of people were much more ‘dressed up’ than I was, but there were plenty who weren’t, too, so I didn’t feel too out of place. I did have a ton of fun admiring everyone’s outfits, though: people were just SO creative. Here’s one of my favourites:

LOVE IT. 

Much more importantly, though…

It’s Taylor Swift, guys! I still can’t believe that I have photos of the ACTUAL Taylor Swift on my phone, that were taken by ME. It’s so surreal. I read a review of the show in The Scotsman this morning where the writer said “it was weird seeing her human-sized”, and that was my main thought, too. I just kept thinking, “Wow, she’s actually REAL,” as if this was some kind of major plot twist that I could not possibly have predicted. At the same time, though, everything about her is so familiar it’s almost as if you know her personally. At one point she waved at the crowd, and I found myself waving back enthusiastically, before remembering I was actually just looking at her image on the screen, because she was at the other end of the stage at the time, and not even looking in my direction, let alone at me.

But I guess that’s part of the magic, isn’t it? That there can be over 73,000 people in the stadium (the largest crowd to ever attend a concert in Scotland), but when she sings your favourite song, it still feels like it’s just for you. That you can have seen so many clips of the tour online that you know exactly what’s going to happen, but still be amazed and delighted when it does. It’s not the least bit surprising when the flower petals pull back and Miss Americana strikes up, for instance, but you scream with excitement at it anyway, because you know you’re witnessing something iconic, that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.

Honestly, I’ve been to quite a few concerts in my time, but I have never, ever experienced anything quite like this, and I’m not sure I ever will again. Right from the moment we followed a trail of glitter onto a bus filled with women in sequins, the atmosphere was just incredible. I think I’d cried about five times before we even made it into the stadium. And then, standing there surrounded by thousands of people who all know and love the same songs I’ve been quietly obsessing over for years was something else again.

I’ve always been something of a solitary Swiftie, if that’s a thing. She may be the biggest artist in the world right now, but there are very few people in my ‘real’ life who’d count themselves as ‘fans’, which means I don’t really have anyone to analyze lyrics with, or compare notes on our favourites. On the few occasions when her music does come up in discussion, I always seem to end up having to defend myself against accusations of liking something that’s “just for kids” (‘Cos little kids are going wild for The Tortured Poets Department, obvs…), or explain that yes, she does actually write her own music, and not all of it sounds like Shake It Off, give me strength.

But then suddenly there I was, surrounded by 73,000 people who also knew every word to every song, and screamed themselves hoarse at the sight of a cleaning cart being wheeled towards the stage, and I think it was quite possibly the first time in my entire life I’ve thought, YES. These are my people. I am finally with my people.

If you’re going to the Eras Tour this year, I hope you have the best day, and find your people. I also hope your weather is kinder to you than ours was on night two in Edinburgh: and, if it isn’t, I hope this post will at least help reassure you that two pairs of tights and a thermal vest may not be ‘rock-n-roll’, exactly, but they should do the job…