Taylor Swift arrived to Toronto, and the city’s superfans were ready for it. From the subway to the Rogers Centre, groups of women and girls (and more than a few dads) decked out in sequined jumpsuits, bedazzled bomber jackets and face glitter lined the streets and exchanged friendship bracelets.
Globe reporters on the scene spoke to Swifties about their outfits, how they matched their friends and their favourite Taylor Swift eras.
Best friends Vienna Savaglio, Chiara Bozzelli and Valentina Didiano have been waiting 472 days for the show.DUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Best friends Vienna Savaglio, who’s in Grade 6, and Chiara Bozzelli and Valentina Didiano, in Grade 7, waited 472 days for the show. They planned their outfits on Pinterest, got together to make friendship bracelets and watched the Eras Tour movie in preparation for the big day. For their looks, Vienna and Chiara channelled Swift’s Lover era, while Valentina, wearing a sash and tiara, was dressed up specifically as the song “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince.”
Melissa Palleschi. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Outside of Union Station, 28-year-old Melissa Palleschi stood out in her Lover-inspired poufy dress with rainbow butterfly decals. On her hands was a hand-drawn “13.” “Taylor used to draw it all the time on her hands, so now the fans do too.” Palleschi, who’s from Toronto, has never missed a hometown Taylor show.
(From left to right): Alora Stockermans, Amy Stockermans, Alida Ryan and Adele Rosenkranz. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Sisters Adele Rosenkranz, Alida Ryan, Amy Stockermans and Alora Stockermans wore outfits inspired by Lover, Red and The Tortured Poets Department. “This is our first time hanging out as adults,” Alida said about the sisters, who range in age from 25 to 34.
Friends Mackenzie McQuilan and Lauren Closs, head towards Taylor Swift concert at Rogers Centre.DUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
“Eras Tour in Canada means you gotta wear a puffy coat,” said Lauren Closs, 22. Underneath her Aritzia Super Puff was a cobalt blue fringed sequin dress, an homage to Midnights. It’s like Canadian Halloween, where most trick-or-treaters are forced to cover their costumes with a parka. Closs’s friend Mackenzie McQuilan, also 22 and also in a black puffer, was wearing a newsprint corset and a black mini skirt.
Alyssa Dandrea and Pamela Keilig. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Pamela Keilig and Alyssa Dandrea, both 35, travelled from New Hampshire for the show, their second of the tour. They saw Swift play back in the spring of 2023 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. But since then there’s been a new album, so they wanted to get tickets for another stop. Dandrea was wearing a jacket she got secondhand from a Swiftie who saw the Eras Tour in London, while Keilig was in a jumpsuit that she described as being like “if Lover and Reputation had a Midnights baby.”
'Swiftie dad' Peter Kotylak with his family.Ann Hui/The Globe and Mail
On Thursday afternoon ahead of Swift’s Toronto show, Peter Kotylak wore the label of “Swiftie dad” proudly. He wore an “in my dad era” t-shirt. Layered over it was another shirt that read “It’s me, hi. I’m the dad. It’s me.”
Mr. Kotylak, a cattle and grain farmer from Montmartre, Saskatchewan, first became a fan after his daughter Marley introduced him to Swift’s music. Now, he says he’s as big a fan as she is. “I get up in the mornings, and I put on her songs.”
Friends Beth Langille, Amelia Bidini-Taylor and Elise Malicki got temporary snake tattoos to complete the look.DUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Friends Amelia Bidini-Taylor, Beth Langille and Elise Malicki, all 21, were dressed for Reputation. They admit it was partly because it was the easiest to dress up as – they got temporary snake tattoos to complete the look – but it’s also one of their favourite albums.
(From left to right): Clara Siebert and Olivia O’Toole. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Chicagoans Olivia O’Toole and Clara Siebert, both 24, don’t want to say how much they spent on their Swift tickets. “Insanely priced,” says Siebert, who was wearing a velvet dark green cape and a brown dress, a nod to Evermore. O’Toole rented her black dress dotted with three-dimensional butterflies from the site Nuuly. It’s a “giving Bejeweled” look, said Siebert about her friend.
(Left to right): Ava Avila, Jayde Ayotte, Victoria Martins, Michelle Martins. Duane Cole/The Globe and MailDUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Grade 8 students Ava Avila, Jayde Ayotte and Victoria Martins all skipped class for the concert. Ava was dressed in a Reputation-inspired outfit. “That’s Taylor’s grunge era,” she said while riding the TTC’s Line 2. She laced beads through her Doc Martens that said: “The Eras Tour Toronto” and “It’s been a long time coming.” Ava said she wanted to bring binder clips to carry all her friendship bracelets, like the Swifties did at the U.S. shows, but they were forbidden at the Rogers Centre. Instead, she’s got a couple dozen on her wrists.
Ivy Fraser and Kinsey Brockett exchange friendship bracelets on the subway as they head towards the Taylor Swift concert.DUANE COLE/The Globe and Mail
Matching Lover cowboy hats is a fast way to make friends as a Swiftie. Ivy Fraser, 14, and Kinsey Brockett, 10, met each other with their moms while waiting for the subway on Bloor-Yonge station platform. They exchanged friendship bracelets when they got on the train – their first trades of the night.
Ashley Endicott at the Rogers Centre after Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour on Nov. 14.The Globe and Mail
Ashley Endicott was celebrating her birthday at the show, wearing a sequined dress and a sash that read “My Birthday Era.” “It was amazing,” she said after the concert. “She played all the classics. Great surprise songs.”
Marley Bradfield and her sister Gwen worked on their dresses since the summer in preparation for the concert.Supplied
“We kind of wanted to do something that we hadn’t really seen done before,” Marley Bradfield says over the phone before the concert of her and her younger sister’s outfits.
The journalism student at Carleton University, in Ottawa, and sister Gwen, 15, decided to pay homage to Swift’s song, “White Horse” and its lyrics “I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairy tale.”
The sisters started working on the dresses this summer and were putting the finishing touches on them last night.
“We ironed on the lyrics and we cut ribbon and made a sash,” Marley says. “On the skirt of the dress, we have, like, different lyrics from all of Taylor’s songs that, have, you know, like ‘fairy tale’ in it, or ‘princess.’”
With files from Samantha Edwards, Dave McGinn and Ann Hui