On the first day of the final show of Taylor Swift's Eras tour on October 18, Reputation's set began much as it has for the 130+ shows over the past year and a half. A fast-motion montage of Swift dressed in black walking down a dark hallway was juxtaposed with clips of coiled, hissing snakes. With the bass projected on a giant stadium screen, the music accelerates and the crowd screams louder, until she performs her biggest hit of 2017, “.Ready for It.”

But as Taylor Swift took her first steps from backstage and a sparkle of gold sequins caught the light, Miami's Hard Rock Stadium absolutely erupted in noise. Cell phones, which only minutes before had been hidden in pockets and transparent bags, were retrieved at lightning speed. In front of me, a young woman in a 1989-coded skater skirt shook her shoulders and shouted at her obviously bewildered male partner. Being a normally calm reporter, I jumped, grabbed the arm of the reporter next to me, and dropped my chin. Perhaps it was just the extra excitement in an already charged atmosphere, but I felt the ground move beneath my feet.

When she finally emerged, the stadium's collective premonition became a certainty: the era of Taylor Swift's new Reputation outfit had finally begun. More screams went up.

Swift's new Reputation outfit was a one-shoulder, one-leg jumpsuit by Roberto Cavalli. A 3D cobra wraps around Swift's legs, torso, and near the neckline on a mesh and black sequin base. Its scales, visible from my seat hundreds of feet away, are composed of gold baguettes, black bezels, and crystal stones. More golden serpents are entwined around one covered arm and her gizzard.

Judging by the reaction of the audience and the online reactions, which ranged from Sabrina Carpenter to the official Sour Patch Kids X account, this bodysuit is more than just a costume change.

Throughout the Eras tour, Taylor Swift and her longtime stylist, Joseph Cassell Falconer, have carefully chosen designers to create pieces that represent each musical era explored on the tour. For example, a sparkling navy bodysuit from Midnights or a dreamy, bohemian Alberta Ferretti maxi dress from Folklore and Evermore.

“These variations usually provide us with an expanse of the established world she has created in her time,” says Sarah Chappelle, author of the New York Times bestseller “Taylor Swift Style.

“While most of the costume variations typically vary slightly in color and silhouette, the goal is always to build on the customary ‘dress code’ of each era.”

Reputation, however, was the exception that Swift and her colleagues quickly noticed: her March 2023 tour opened with a Roberto Cavalli bodysuit with red sequined snakes at each performance. In five continents and more than 100 performances, Taylor Swift has never deviated from Reputation's original costumes. In the world of Taylor Swift's films, that means something.

Swift is well known for using fashion to communicate with her fans. It has been less than a year since her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, but fans are already looking for signs of her next re-recorded album. Only two albums have yet to be released, Taylor Swift and Reputation. Swift and her friends speculate that the countdown to the album will begin the moment Swift changes outfits for Reputation. Her recent street style, including a Roberto Cavalli bag adorned with snake hardware, has raised expectations that “Getaway Car (Taylor's Version)” will soon be available for streaming. The arrival of the long-awaited Reputation's new music on the first night of the tour's resumption was a striking sign to Swift's most devoted followers of the old and new music. (I'll leave the story of how the snake became the album's unofficial mascot to more gossip-driven reports.)

While Reputation shook the stadium, another two of Taylor Swift's fresh Era's Tour outfits also sent the crowd around me into a frenzy of delight. (In Fearless, Swift showed off a fringed Roberto Cavalli bustier mini-dress. As is tradition in Elas, she paired it with knee-high custom Christian Louboutin boots and a sparkly guitar, capturing the playfulness and innocence of her high school album.

Style surprises arrived throughout the acoustic set, the second-to-last segment of Swift's show. She quickly changed from a Vivienne Westwood corset dress for “The Tortured Poets Department” to a Roberto Cavalli high-low ombre wrap dress again. Magenta, purple, petroleum, and midnight blue swirled over the plunging neckline and ruffled skirt, coated in crystals to match the gradation of fabric. Swift performed two mashups on guitar and piano, first singing “Tim McGraw” and “Timeless,” then “This Is Me Trying” and “Daylight.”

Swift performed “Karma,” and after the confetti fell with the misty midnight rain, I overheard her talking about Reputation's new outfit on the way back to the parking lot. Does this mean that there will be a re-recording announcement by the end of the weekend? The latter is more likely.

“One thing I can say about Taylor is that we should always expect the unexpected. New costume variations can really hit us at any time,” says Chappelle. “Night one is usually a sure guess, but she has also been known to throw new costumes into the mix on night two, as she did during the second round of dates in London."

One thing is for sure, Taylor Swift's dress is not for revenge, but for her fans. At the beginning of her acoustic set, she held out her skirt with one hand and asked the crowd in the stands, “What do you want me to wear? When the crowd shouted back, she smiled sweetly in response.

“You guys are the most rewarding group of people to show off your new clothes.”

Editor's note: This article has been updated.