Taylor Swift’s museum era is on full display at London’s V&A

At right, Taylor Swift during her 2018 concert in Dublin. Left, a guitar and stage costume from previous concert tours are displayed at the ‘Taylor Swift Songbook Trail Exhibition’ at the Victoria & Albert Museum, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 in London. Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP, Instagram.

LONDON — Taylor Swift fans who missed her world tour or those who can’t get enough of her can catch her at the museum this summer.

As a celebration of her double run of sold-out shows in London on her Eras Tour, real items from Swift’s different musical eras have been integrated into galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

Costumes, guitars and other memorabilia from the pop star’s archive have been curated into a “Songbook Trail” that opens Saturday and runs through Sept. 8.

“There’s so many really iconic objects and looks worn by Taylor across her career from her breakout moment in country,” said Kate Bailey, senior curator of theater and performance at the V&A. “It’s wonderful to be able to share her musicality and her microphone. So, many, many things.”

The exhibit is not the first museum treatment of Swift. Last summer, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City presented “Taylor Swift: Storyteller,” featuring a different array of costumes and objects spanning her career.

Die-hard Swifties may recognize items in a display case dating back to an early tour in 2007 when she was a supporting act: pale blue heart-adorned cowboy boots, turquoise dress and a Taylor acoustic guitar made of koa wood.

The exhibits are set among priceless works in a museum that houses collections of art, fashion, photography, furniture, performance, architecture, and ceramics.

A purple skirt and pink and green sequined jacket from the 2015 tour of her Grammy-winning 1989 album are in a case next to a painting by the High Renaissance artist Raphael. A sweater from the “Cardigan” video from her “folklore” album sits in front of a piano in a gallery of landscape paintings.

The Cinderella-like yellow gown from the “Bejeweled” music video from the “Midnights” album is displayed in the Prince Consort Gallery. A stage costume from her Reputation Tour, complete with snake microphone, is in the British Gallery.

“The V&A feels like the perfect stage for a Taylor Swift trail,” Bailey said. “I think there’s so many touch points within Taylor’s work that respond to art, literature, history. … There’s so many ways that we can kind of interpret and layer and present Taylor’s work here.”