Taylor Swift looks like springtime as she walks her first red carpet of 2026
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- Taylor Swift returned to the 2026 iHeartRadio red carpet in mint green corset & miniskirt.
- Swift and Travis Kelce attended together but Swift posed solo and met iHeartRadio execs.
- Swift has appeared at iHeartRadio Awards 8 times since ‘15, evolving her red carpet style.
Taylor Swift looked like spring as she returned to the awards show circuit Thursday wearing a corset and miniskirt in fresh, minty green on the red carpet at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
With beading and fringe, the ensemble seemed to give a nod to her latest album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Though Swift was at the awards with her fiance, Travis Kelce, they did not walk the red carpet during televised coverage. Swift was photographed solo on the red carpet and with a group of iHeartRadio execs before the show at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
While she looked all minty, Kelce was dressed in dark slacks and shirt with a black leather jacket. The couple sat in the front row and scored a camera close-up within the first few minutes of the broadcast.
Swifties had been giddy since last week, when the announcement came that Swift would make a special appearance at this year’s event, which just happens to be the show’s 13th year.
She’s appeared on this awards show eight times since 2015, half of them virtual appearances. Stylewise, Swift is light years away from the little black minidress with cutouts by Kaufmanfranco that she wore during her first outing on this event’s red carpet in 2015.
“For many of today’s biggest acts and red carpet stars, the iHeartRadio Music Awards red carpet was one of their first major carpets — and lessons were learned,” fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily wrote in 2024.
“The iHeartRadio Music Awards red carpet has the same effect as opening your old freshman year yearbook: you’d rather forget that stage. Taylor Swift walked the carpet in 2015, with a helmet-like bob with Goldilocks curls. The cutout dress and geometric shoe only complicated things further.”
She created a bigger stir just one year later when she showed up in a black sequined halter jumpsuit with an oversized belt and cutout back, right off YSL’s 2016 fall runway. Paired with peep toe booties, the “overall effect gives Grease’s ‘Bad Sandy’ — with a glittery finish,” Swift style expert Sarah Chapelle writes in her current lookback at Swift’s iHeartRadio fashion.
In 2019, Swift wore a purple sequined romper by UK-based brand Rosa Bloom. “But the real kicker (pun intended) are those butterfly Sophia Webster heels which stood in as a fashionable Easter egg for the technicolour pastel Lover fashion that would come just a month after this ceremony,” Chapelle notes.
“Of all of Taylor’s iHeart appearances, I felt this one was the most cohesively styled and is thus my pick of the bunch.”
Three years ago Swift channeled Grace Jones and her iconic hooded ensembles in a dark crystal-embroidered hooded jacket with matching pants and boots from French designer Alexandre Vauthier’s 2023 spring couture collection. WWD called the collection “unabashed love for glamour with slinky black and bright fluorescents with ‘80s influences.”
Swift didn’t walk the red carpet that year, either, which was a shame, Chapelle writes.
“This meant that photos of her from the night were exclusively when she was seated or behind a podium while accepting an award. I do think that the nature of this particular look would have benefited greatly from intentional posing on the red carpet,” she writes.
Swift was honored with the Innovator Award that night for being “an advocate for women’s rights and the LGBTQ+ community, using her music and platform to inspire young people to use their voting power.”
Miley Cyrus received that honor Thursday.
This story was originally published March 26, 2026 at 7:42 PM.
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