Was it just a bracelet, or a love story in gems? When Taylor Swift performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on December 10th, all eyes were on her stunning velvet mini dress, but a Swiftie like you will notice more. Disappearing into her pricey jewelry, a very meaningful opal bracelet lurks.
Opal: Opal has remained Swift’s favorite since she was a teenager. “My favorite stone is an opal because when I was bullied in school, my mom used to take me to T.J. Maxx after school to look at the opal jewelry. I thought opals were so beautiful, and somehow it made me feel better.” In reality, her love for this stone goes beyond her preference because her Opal actually symbolizes her connection with Travis Kelce because Opal is another name for the birthstone of another Oktoberfest baby, Travis Kelce.
Swift’s presence is no coincidence, either, because she is part of a massive promotional event in support of her new Disney+ docuseries The End of an Era which will premiere on December 12th. The docuseries will be a six-part series which will chronicle her record-breaking Eras Tour. She described this in a post on Instagram.com, saying it marked “the culmination of the most important and intense chapter of our lives.” in six words and two phases. However, she included a romantic message in her work, which she is famous for doing so.
The audience quickly linked all of this to “Opalite,” which is a name of a track on her latest album The Life of a Showgirl: “The opalite is a man-made derivative of an opal,” Swift described. And happiness can be man-made too. That’s what this song’s all about. The contrast of those two things, “Opalite,” a musical gift from Swift in her most recent album, is a guiding light in learning how to find love in a life of broken relationships in the past but happy with her life with Kelce presently. In fact, Kelce himself says this is his favorite among Swift’s songs, and in an interview with his brother, “Every time it comes on, I always catch myself.”
The attractive part is also the cultural significance of opalite, which is the gemstone of the astrological planet Venus, representing improved relationships and enhanced powers of creativity, symbolizing Swift’s improved relationship status and her piece of creative work. They are thought to infuse emotional balance and enhanced communication in life; this, her followers can see in her life with Kelce.
Swift’s fashion statements have become a language all her own-a form of narrative storytelling in which, largely, it is left to her followers to piece it all together. Whether she chose to wear an opalite earrings combo to publicly show her support in cheering Kelce on in the AFC Championship Game or an opalite and blue topaz ring combo, which she acquired from Keleigh Sperry, each of these took a very important part in a bigger picture. Of course, this bracelet, with all other fashion statements she makes, took no different a role.
Swift’s Colbert dress with her expensive texture and glitz added to her sealing her skill in mixing style with substance. It wasn’t really a matter of dressing up but how one can manage to interwoven a personal message in fashion designs. Even segments of programs on late-night talk shows took a part in becoming her another piece in her story of love and artwork.
However, for pop culture-conscious followers, these have more significance than Swift’s simple fashion statements. They become a pathway leading to a series in establishing connections in music, in love, and in establishing her personal narrative of life, a testament to a reality in Swift’s life where a simple accessory symbolizes as much in meaning akin to a story in love in which a meaning acquires.
