Taylor Swift’s personal items to be shown at V&A museum

Dresses, storyboards and cowboy boots are among the personal items of Taylor Swift’s that will be on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in South Kensington this summer.

Taylor Swift: Songbook Trail, which opens on 27 July and has free entry, will feature 16 looks worn by the Grammy-winning singer, 34, who is currently on her blockbuster Eras Tour.

Swift’s Eras Tour has drawn a wide celebrity following, including the Prince of Wales and his children, Tom Cruise and Fleabag favourites Andrew Scott and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

The temporary trail, featuring objects loaned from her personal archive, will offer visitors a chance to see certain items on display for the first time.

Fans will be able to look at items that focus on her childhood and recording legacy, the V&A said.

A pair of custom-made cowboy boots worn by Swift during 2007’s Soul2Soul II Tour will be on display, as well as the black ruffled dress worn in her recent music video for “Fortnight”.

Each of the stops on the Songbook Trail will showcase a chapter in her music career, which began when Swift moved to Nashville, the home of country music, when she was 14.

The installations have been designed by Tom Piper, whose other projects include the V&A’s 2021 exhibition Alice: Curiouser And Curiouser.

Kate Bailey, the museum’s senior curator, theatre and performance, said: “We are delighted to be able to display a range of iconic looks worn by Taylor Swift at the V&A this summer – each celebrating a chapter in the artist’s musical journey.

"Taylor Swift’s songs – like objects – tell stories, often drawing from art, history and literature.

"We hope this theatrical trail across the museum will inspire curious visitors to discover more about the performer, her creativity and V&A objects."

Taylor Swift: Songbook Trail runs at the V&A South Kensington from 27 July to 8 September 2024. Find more information here.

Swift recently seemed to hit back at Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl for suggesting she and her band don’t play live at her Eras tour.

Grohl had told an audience at his concert in London on Saturday 22 June that he called his band’s show the “Errors Tour” because they’d had a “few more eras and more than a few f***ing errors” because “we actually play live”.

Swift appeared to address Grohl’s insinuation on stage at her Wembley show the following evening, as she thanked fans for attending her three and a half hour long performance.

Speaking to the 90,000 people filling the stadium for her third London show of the Eras tour, Swift said her band deserved “so much” recognition.

She told fans: “What you just did is an unforgettable moment in not just my life, but every very single one of our crew. The band that’s going to be playing live for you for three and a half hours tonight.

“They deserve this so much and so does every one of my fellow performers, and you just gave that to us so generously. We’ll never forget it.”

Additional reporting by Press Association