Taylor Swift is truly always one step ahead.
Days after releasing her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, fans were quick to recall a look the 34-year-old singer rocked in New York City months before the album’s release — and even before the album had been announced at all.
On November 13, Swift was spotted out with Gracie Abrams, one of her opening acts for The Eras Tour, as the pair left Freemans Restaurant in Manhattan. Along with her white mini-dress and navy blue double-breasted wool jacket (which we now know was very TTPD coded), Swift wore a YSL bag with a flashy chain, which a fan style account later identified as the brand’s Cassandra Top Handle Bag, which retails for $2,850 or $3,200 depending on the size.
In an Instagram post from November 14, the account, taylorswiftstyled, which is run by fan Sarah Chapelle, shared that the bag is named “after Adolphe Mouron Cassandre, the man who designed the iconic ‘YSL’ logo seen here on the bag’s front.”
“A part of me can’t help but wonder if Taylor felt kinship to a bag that also shared a name with Cassandra, of Greek myth fame who was doomed to utter prophecies that no one would believe,” Chapelle mused in the caption, five months before Swift released The Tortured Poets Department and then surprised fans with a double album — which features a track called “Cassandra.”
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The caption also referenced the “poetry” of Swift’s choice to wear the bag, which fans have pointed out in the comments to be an eerily poignant reflection, given the title of the latest album — though Chapelle was guessing that the accessory was a hint at the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version) instead.
“And the fact that you used poetry in your caption. Whose the Cassandra now 🤯,” one fan wrote in a comment on April 21.
“Circling back to this post after listening to Cassandra on TTPD,” another wrote in a comment the day after the album’s release.
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Swift is thought to be something of a “Mastermind” for her dedication to leaving Easter Egg clues for her fans throughout her life, and wearing the Cassandra YSL bag months before releasing her latest critically acclaimed record is just another example of how she’s incorporated style into those hints.
In the music video for “Fortnight,” which features Post Malone, Swift’s style was once again noticed by fans as the white dress she wears in it looks remarkably similar to the strapless Schiaparelli gown she wore to the Grammys in February. The white dress featured a thigh-high slit and she paired it with black opera gloves and several statement necklaces.
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After announcing The Tortured Poets Department tracklist, which featured a song called “Clara Bow,” fans realized that the Grammys look was also paying homage to the actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era in the 1920s.
In the “Fortnight” video, Swift pulls together all the references, as she wears a white dress similar to her Grammys look, which paid homage to Bow, who died in 1965, and also donned Bow’s signature doll-like makeup look — razor-thin eyebrows, smokey eye makeup and bold lipstick.
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Bow’s great-granddaughter Nicole Sisneros and Brittany Grace Bell (who are the granddaughters of Bow’s son Rex Bell Jr.), spoke to PEOPLE about Swift’s impactful dedication to their ancestor, and Sisneros remarked on the makeup in the music video specifically.
“She has the same sultry stare that was signature of Clara Bow,” Sisneros said of Swift’s look in the “Fortnight” video. “And there’s no denying the precise application of the lipstick.”