TIGHTS
God knows why, my eyes kept getting fixated on the skin-colored, shimmery tights Taylor Swift was wearing throughout the music video The Fate of Ophelia, which she wrote and directed herself. Multiple stages, from cabaret settings to painting-like aesthetics, grand theatre decors, and dynamic choreographies, were presented. And yet, those tights kept stealing the spotlight.
Get Jamie (Ayyuce Yesilyurt)’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
It is not surprising how Swift chose to stage a centuries-old literary character with a rather tragic background: through an upbeat pop song accompanied by exaggerated acting. It is also not surprising that, amid this tangle, we are able to see perhaps a familiar pattern. Acknowledged for her prose-like, autobiographical lyricism, theatrical staging, and personal storytelling, Swift’s stylistic signature weaves through The Fate of Ophelia. How? Through those sparkly, poorly matched skin-colored tights. The scenery changes from the smooth texture of the painting The Death of Ophelia to the theater play The Tempest within the cardboard waves. And Swift skitters across these jumbled-up sets, always taking center stage with her tights. It is as if she is declaring “This is my stage, this is my performance, and these are my tights.”
At first glance, focusing on just a pair of tights among all the flamboyant sets and acting might seem absurd. And yet… it isn´t. Shimmering through the frantic scene, those tights embody an important symbol that draws our attention to what Swift actually is: a performer.
