Entitled “Taylor Swift / Songbook Trail”, the free, temporary exhibition designed by Tom Piper will celebrate the global singer-songwriter through costumes and archival materials never displayed before to explore her childhood and musical legacy.

A range of iconic looks will show her musical growth along with lyrics, music videos, instruments, awards and storyboards on loan from the artist’s personal archive, in an attempt to show Swift’s style and her relentless influence on pop culture.

The exhibition will consist of 13 steps, each celebrating a chapter of the artist’s career and artistic evolution, offering the visitors the opportunity to learn more about her creative process and immerse themselves in the personal world of the pop icon, currently performing her Eras tour across Europe. Kate Bailey, the V&A’s senior curator of theatre and performance, hopes the exhibition will inspire the public to discover more about the cultural as well as global phenomena that underpin and even exceed Swift’s musical journey, like her Swiftie fandom.

The V&A Swift summer show inscribes itself within the Museum’s aim to trace and map out current and future cultural trends, ones that will eventually inform future scientific research and museum collecting.

Opening image: Image still from Willow music video, 2020. Courtesy TAS Rights Management, LLC