If you’re anything like us, your Instagram feed has been filled lately with shots of ecstatic concertgoers, wearing armfuls of beaded bracelets or silvery fringe and cowboy hats. That’s right: Taylor Swift’s Eras and Beyoncé’s Renaissance tours, which kicked off in March and May, respectively, are the cultural phenomena du jour. And all retailers should be aware of them.
That’s because Swift and Beyoncé are driving scores of fans not only to stadiums around the country but also to hotels, nail salons, and bars, where they’re celebrating in what may be the final gasp of post-pandemic “revenge spending”—in which spending on experiences trumps spending on goods—as The New York Times reported in August.
Here’s a choice detail from the story: A survey found that Beyoncé fans spent $1,800 on average for the concert.
That’s a lot of glitter! Below are the major fashion trends that have emerged on the tours and are expected to have staying power this fall.
Metallics and disco cowgirls
By the time Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour closes in New Orleans on Sept. 27, untold millions will surely have been spent on kitting out the performer’s legions of fans in glittery cowgirl ensembles like those she wears on stage.
Front and center, of course, is Tiffany & Co., the tour’s official jeweler. At her performance in New York, Beyoncé wore a metallized silver and turquoise peephole cowboy hat created by Tiffany in partnership with Stephen Jones Millinery and custom Tiffany HardWear earrings resembling diamond-encrusted horse bits.
The Blue Box jeweler also created a new Return to Tiffany x Beyoncé capsule collection of silver pendants and necklaces in honor of the tour that reinterprets the house’s iconic Return to Tiffany motif. One side of each Beyoncé Tiffany pendant bears the silhouette of a horse—further hammering home the tour’s disco cowgirl aesthetic.
From a big-picture perspective, expect the growing interest in white metals—a trend we’ve documented since earlier this year—to truly lift off this fall, as Beyoncé continues to stoke demand with her futuristic style.
Bead bracelets
Swifties, as fans of the singer-songwriter are known, are donning and trading friendship bracelets when they attend the Eras tour, a reference to a lyric on Swift’s latest album, Midnights. In the song “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” Swift tells listeners to “make the friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it.”
Jewelers offering simple charm bracelets, beaded wristlets, and macramé styles are poised to reap the benefits of all that interest in arm candy, especially when fans graduate to more expensive styles. Paris-based Lauren Rubinski has made a mint on her luxe versions of the letter bead bracelets we all made as kids. But given the layers of bracelets worn by Swifties, there’s plenty of room for all kinds of designer interpretations.
Top: Tiffany HardWear graduated diamond drop earrings, custom-created by Tiffany & Co. for Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour performance in New York
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazineFollow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
