After an eight-year absence from the festival circuit, Taylor Swift made a spectacular return on Saturday, April 13 at Coachella in the California desert. Her outfit was a testament to how much her style has changed since her last appearance, and was a sweet reference to the kind of life she now leads.

Swift, along with boyfriend Travis Kells, cheered on collaborators Jack Antonoff (with his band, Bleachers) and Ice Spice (rapping solo). She picked out the goods for the day. The first thing I noticed in Taylor's festival attire was a baseball cap emblazoned with the logo from Travis' podcast New Heights. (This is the exact same place where Kels first insisted on going to see Taylor live last July and failed to give him a friendship bracelet with his phone number on it.) Since then, the dominoes have been cascading.)

Otherwise, Taylor Swift's Coachella attire was not in line with the festival's dress code. She wore a patent leather jacket and a black T-shirt underneath. And a pleated skirt with an adjustable buckle garter from Harrah's, the athletic wear brand with TikTok virality. She finished the look with chunky sneakers by Gucci and a cross-body leather bag by Stella McCartney. Her jewelry consisted of gold hoop-based earrings with smaller charms on top.

The last time the "Anti-Hero" singer attended Coachella was in 2016, when her hair had just been bleached for the upcoming Met Gala. (Swift also wore a varsity jacket to promote Calvin Harris' single "This Is What You Came For." All photos shared of this look have been removed from her Instagram.

Since Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift, the monochromatic look may not have simply endorsed the chunky sneaker trend that has reappeared on runways from Coach to Cecilie Bernsen. Black outfits with a sexier edge were a cornerstone of her Reputation Style era, as were outfits involving Gucci, a designer she came to wear frequently in 2017. All of these similarities may be another wink to Reputation (Taylor's version). Swift's last trip to Coachella was also the year before Reputation's first debut.

Of course, fans have seen Taylor Swift actually drop hints of another project, Reputation. At the 2024 Grammy Awards, for example, Swift appeared in a white Schiaparelli gown and black opera gloves. Fans interpreted the color scheme as a sign that a re-recording of Reputation was imminent. Swift accepted the award that night and announced that, in fact, an entirely new album was on the way. The pleats on Swift's Coachella skirt match the Miu Miu and Sandy Liang minis she has since worn to promote Tortured Poets.

There is more to decipher where Saturday night's look came from. Swift's 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, will finally be released on Friday, April 19. In the run-up to the album's release, she has spent time in a preppy uniform of polo shirts, platform loafers, and crew-neck sweaters that allude to the academic title. Fans will know after the first listen if there are more Easter eggs embedded in the outfits she has worn. For now, they can enjoy the fact that "Bleachella" is not her last Coachella outfit.