Taylor made: The Swifties DIYing their Eras Tour outfits

Since kicking off in the US 12 months ago, Swifties have been dressing to the nines with their Taylor Swift-themed outfits.

Whether it's lyrics, songs, albums or Swift herself, fans have found ways to incorporate it into their outfit. Many are even taking the chance to put their DIY skills to good use.

Not to mention the friendship bracelets - inspired by lyrics in the song You're On Your Own Kid, fans have been swapping handmade ones at each concert.

So with all that in mind, we asked four Canberra Swifties what outfit they are DIYing for the concert (and how many bracelets they are making).

As soon as The Eras Tour was announced in November 2022, Mikayla Simpson started thinking about her outfit for when it would eventually come to Australia.

Having been a fan since the 1989 album - which came out when Simpson was still in primary school - the Swiftie has been to the singer's past two Australian tours. However, after going to the Reputation Tour in 2018 - which, for the Sydney show, was during a thunderstorm and very hot and humid - Simpson knew she wanted to dress for the weather. It is February in Sydney, after all, and the idea of decorated overalls - representing Swift's entire career - with a merch shirt underneath was what she settled on.

Simpson has had the help of her younger sister for the outfit. Using a Cricut machine, her sister has been making vinyl patches to represent each of the albums or, as Swifties have come to know them, eras. Her sister - who is still in the family home in Sydney - then sent them via Australia Post to be stuck on Simpson's overalls. It included a Lover era butterfly that both her and her sister were going to incorporate into their outfits.

It was a great plan. Until Australia Post lost her package in the post.

With a little over a week until the concert, Simpson found herself rushing to Spotlight to find what she could to represent each album. It's still a work in progress and Simpson has her fingers crossed hoping she can get it done in time.

"It's hard to pick just one but I think that all the eras represent something different," she says.

"And I think that I relate to each era in a different way and I can connect it to a different time in my life. So I didn't want to leave any of them out because they're all kind of important to me and mean something to me. That's why I've chosen to put them all on the outfit."

But for the uninitiated, it's the number of bracelets Simpson and her sister plan on wearing that will be surprising. By the time the concert arrives next Friday, they plan to have one for every Swift song as well as a few others for various references. That's more than 240.

"It's quite funny actually because she still lives in Sydney - she's only in high school - so she makes them all but she can't tie them. So when I come back on weekends, I sit there and I tie them all," Simpson says.

"It's been a great bonding activity because we don't normally get along. But we get along about over Taylor. So it's been great."

At first glance, it's hard to see how Johanna Evans' dress is Taylor Swift-themed.

But for the Swiftie, it's what the hand-stitched embroidery represents on her linen dress. She has been slowly adding floral bouquets to the dress since the beginning of the tour.

Every show, Swift sings two surprise songs. And for each weekend of the tour, Evans has stitched a bouquet where the flowers represent the album those surprise songs are from.

She knew she wanted some Australian flowers in the mix so she has a golden wattle flower representing Fearless and a red gum flower representing the Red album. She also has green chrysanthemums for Swift's debut album, lavender for Speak Now, forget-me-nots for 1989, black orchids for Reputation, roses for Lover, snowdrops for Folklore, daisies for Evermore and cornflowers for Midnights.

"Around the time that the tickets got announced, I started teaching myself how to hand embroider," Evans says.

"Because I was really bad at double screening and so I wanted something else to do with my hands.

"And also around that time, there's this girl on TikTok @kyracrochets who crochets a blanket that keeps track of the surprise songs. And so I became obsessed with the idea of tracking the surprise song."

Even though last week's Tokyo shows and this weekend's Melbourne shows are still to be added, Evans plans on having the dress up-to-date by the time she goes to Sydney's Sunday night show.

This is the night that she has tickets to go with her family - she also has tickets to see Swift on a Friday night, which she plans to dress up as Alice in Wonderland for. This is inspired by the Swift song Wonderland.

"It's going to be the fourth time my dad is going to Taylor Swift with me. He's been with me every time since Red," Evans says.

"One of my other embroidery projects was for my dad's birthday, and because he's been to all four of the concerts with me, I got a hat, and I embroidered 'Veteran Swiftie Dad' on the front of it. And then I embroidered concert patches for the concerts that we've been to. And so that's his Eras Tour outfit."

Georgie Holmes has been a Swiftie for 15 years - back when being a Taylor Swift fan was "a bit dorky".

But ever since she first heard Fearless - the album which saw breakout hits including Love Story and You Belong With Me - Holmes has been steadfast in her love of the pop star.

"My first tour experience was her Fearless tour and I went to the concert with my mum. And she came to the top of the stairs of the aisle that we were standing on," Holmes says.

"She came around the corner and the spotlight went on and she sang Hey Stephen, and we all screamed at her. And then she came down the stairs and she hugged me, and I died. It was very, very exciting.

"But that's something I love about her is that she gets amongst her fans as she plays to the whole crowd. Because we were in the nosebleeds but we still felt like we were super important to her."

It's an experience most fans only dream about having. But it was another concert that inspired her to make her Eras Tour outfit.

After leaving the Reputation Tour in 2018 there was one outfit - featuring a sequined green blazer with various themed patches over it - that Holmes knew she had to have.

It was only made more appealing that Swift wore the blazer singing Holmes' favourite song, from her favourite era - Dancing with Our Hands Tied, from Reputation.

"That album was so exciting because she was back and she was back with not a vengeance but almost like she knew who she was," she says.

"She found her groove with her sound and everything. And I just love all the songs - they just get me going and pump me up."

There are still a few patches to add to the blazer - some of which were purchased ready to stitch onto the handmade blazer and some which Holmes has been crafting herself. But the blazer is not the only Swift-coded element to her Eras Tour outfit.

As well as making a selection of bracelets she is also writing a number 13 on her hand - which was made popular by Swift when she did the same thing during her Fearless tour - and writing lyrics on her arms - which was a tradition from the Speak Now World Tour.

If there is one thing Lisha Collis has noticed during her Swiftie prep, has been how much she's enjoyed the crafty side of things.

Between the friendship bracelet-making sessions she has had with friends, and the denim jacket she has decorated for the concert, it has been the first time since she was a kid that she has done arts and crafts.

"It was one of those inner-child little healing moments. We're all sitting here in our 30s and just enjoying making bracelets and talking about Taylor Swift, getting excited," she says.

Having been a Swiftie since the very beginning - "we used to listen to debut in the family car" - Collis knew she wanted to represent each era with her outfit.

One trip to Spotlight for some embroidered patches and some rhinestones, she was on her way to represent each of the 10 albums on a denim jacket - with room to add the recently announced 11th album, The Tortured Poets Department at a later date.

"It has been a lot more intense coming up with an outfit this time, I think because we've seen everyone in the US and now in Tokyo experience The Eras tour," Collis says.

"There is a standard that has been set and I think Australia wants to rise to that occasion. So when I started thinking about what I wanted to do for my outfit, I didn't want something I would just wear for the night. Because now that I'm getting to a certain point in my life, I'm getting a bit past that idea of fast fashion."

Collis is finishing off the look with a black dress as a nod to Reputation, some earrings inspired by the Midnights song, Lavender Haze, some heart-shaped glasses - which have become popular throughout the Eras Tour - and some sneakers with hearts on them, as a nod to the album Lover.