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Taylor Swift has been all about her Life of a Showgirl aesthetic; big, bold, and backcombed hair adorned with crystals, lacquer red lips, her feline eye flick. Underneath it all, still, is a woman who knows what glam works for her—and much of those beauty signatures were forged in the fires of the mid-aughts.
Stepping out in New York City to visit her favorite restaurant, Chez Margaux, Swift wore a very fall-ready outfit, and dressed in head-to-toe chocolate brown. The singer shrugged on an oversized Magda Butrym leather bomber jacket (a brand loved by her best friend Selena Gomez), a brown sweater mini-dress, and suede knee-high boots, finishing off the look with a Louis Vuitton Camera box bag. Her makeup gave no surprises with her go-to cherry red lipstick and cat eye, but she did show off a new chrome (or toasted) manicure.
We did experience some braid-induced whiplash seeing Swift’s XXL fishtail plait, an artefact of ’00s beauty—something to file beside two-tone cut creases and strobing. She paired the intricate braid with her usual thick set of bangs, with the braid starting at the middle of her head to keep it long and sleek.
In saying all of this, the Taylor Swift penchant for plaits goes way back. In the cozy Evermore era, she wore soft French braids around her crown in a cottage core style. She also appeared at one of fiancé Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs game with a tightly set and thicker braid, and over the years, has worn tiny braids through curly hairdos, ponytails, and across her scalp to accentuate her dramatic (and now on-trend) side part. One prominent hairstyle from her Reputation era saw her hair in textured and wild lengths, with various braids running through it…almost snake print like.
It looks like the musician is having some fun experimenting with her now-waist length hair too, adding volume and dimension with extensions. For a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, she wore her long hair in a tousled, half-up half-down style.
Can you plumb the depths of your mind—back to 2011, maybe—to recall how you can do the fishtail braid? Yes, it’s nostalgic, but somehow it feels right for fall 2025. The fishtail braid has also been enjoying a bit of a quiet comeback, seen recently on Katie Holmes, Millie Bobbie Brown, and Cardi B, who style it in vastly different ways. A braid also adds some easy point of interest to your look, which comes in handy when you’re wrapping up in a cozy coat and hiding the rest of your outfit. A fishtail braid can act as a statement accessory just like any handbag or jewelry (no Showgirl style headpiece required). Taylor Swift might be onto something here. Will a braid feature in her bridal looks? Bookmark this one, bride or otherwise.
