Taylor Swift: The Color Code. Article by Guillaumette Duplaix, Editor of RUNWAY MAGAZINE, Keeper of Colorful Truths. Photo Courtesy: Taylor Swift / GettyImages. Creative concept: Runway Magazine.

The idea that Taylor Swift announces her color preferences pleases me because after all, the choice of colors is not exclusive to an institution of colors or any so-called specialist.

Taylor Swift has always made it a point of honor to create a chromatic universe around her albums. Where other music stars announce this or that fashion designer or fashion accessory inaccessible to fans, Taylor Swift remains consistent with her arguments. Taylor Swift has always wanted her fans to be able to be close to her, for her to be a dream accessible to her fans.

Color is accessible to everyone.

Taylor Swift, brilliant as always, after having made us live her emotions through her albums, her engagement with her future husband, etc. She once again evokes for us her color preferences in her visual universe while waiting in particular for the release of her latest album which is illustrated in the form of a painting as well as several colors of her choice.
Great, isn’t it?

We are going to look together at the colors she chose.

Orange: The Fire of Creativity

For her latest album “The Life of a Showgirl”, Taylor Swift chose ORANGE.
First of all, Taylor Swift evokes energy concerning this color.
The orange shades are warm colors considered stimulating.
In the chromatic circle, ORANGE is placed between RED and YELLOW.

In the West, ORANGE is indeed associated with warmth. In ancient Rome, “the color composed of red and yellow was the symbol of indissoluble marriage.”
The artist Vassily Kandinsky sought to base his compositions on associations directly linked to abstract forms and colors. He said that ORANGE looked like a man sure of his strength and consequently gave an impression of health. Of course, this was only a personal point of view.

In the West ORANGE has a positive value because of its proximity to gold.

Association of ORANGE in Asia and in Hindu symbolism: the color ORANGE designates the second chakra of the human body, it is related to creativity and dynamism.

ORANGE is the sacred color in Hinduism. It represents the purifying fire of the body and passions, synonymous with liberation.

Buddhist monks wrap themselves in orange-colored garments.
For Buddhists, ORANGE also recalls the color of gold, symbol of purity.

Green: The Paradox of Hope

For her latest album “The Life of a Showgirl”, Taylor Swift also chose GREEN.
A color extremely complex in its interpretation. Our Taylor Swift is not so simple after all.

GREEN is associated with several superstitions. Some are very famous and have survived through time. Did you know, for example, that there exists in the world of theater a superstition linked to the color GREEN and stage curtains?

In 1673, during a royal performance before King Louis XIV, Molière began coughing, suffering from tuberculosis. He finished the performance but died a few hours later, still in costume. Molière’s costume — the clothes with which he died — was green. And since then, actors have maintained the superstition that it is very unlucky to wear GREEN on stage.

In history, GREEN began its journey badly. It was considered a negative color that represented demons, spirits, all kinds of evil creatures.

But rest assured, from the 19th century onwards, the West associated GREEN with all the symbols of hope and cleanliness. And today GREEN is linked to ecology.

A Chromatic Language

Through her albums, her tours, Taylor Swift has always expressed herself ALSO in colors.
While remaining spontaneous, her visual communication is perfectly controlled.
This complicity that she creates with her public is due of course to her musical talent but also to her communication skills, her color codes that create her atmosphere.

As she once explained:
“It’s simply a color I’ve always loved. It represents the energy I felt in my life.”

And in the end, that is Taylor Swift’s genius: to turn colors—simple, universal, democratic—into emotional codes that resonate like lyrics.