Last year, Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl style era suddenly began on the Grammys red carpet with a red-hot Vivienne Westwood corset dress. This year, the showgirl appears to be staying offstage.
Dreams of Taylor Swift expanding her best outfits of all time roster with another Grammys look aren't coming true tonight. The singer appears to be skipping a 2026 Grammys red carpet dress—despite having the best-selling album of the past year. Reports have surfaced that the star is sitting out of the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, held tonight, February 1, at Los Angeles's Crypto.com Arena. But the absence of another Grammys best-dressed moment with stylist Joseph Cassell Falconer and a custom Lorraine Schwartz "T" leg chain makes sense.
Before thinking of the fashion we're missing on a Swift-less Grammys red carpet, here are the facts: Her latest album was released after the window closed for 2026 Grammy Awards eligibility. Swift wasn't on the list of presenters, either. This marks the first year since 2017 that Swift hasn't been nominated for an award—naturally, she might enjoying a night off from the step-and-repeat.
Ben Winston, executive producer of tonight's show, even addressed fans' hopes for a Taylor Swift red carpet sighting this week in an interview with Hits. "The only reason people think Taylor might be performing or coming is because Hits decided to print it this week and put it in their Hits List, and it was picked up globally," Winston said. "But Hits just totally made that up. And now I am getting asked about it by you, as if it’s a real thing, when it was made up in your office! That really is a full-circle rumor!"
Of course, if Swift surprises even Grammys organizers and changes her RSVP, Marie Claire will update this post.
Still, Swifties are probably pouring one out for the Showgirl-inspired fashion that wasn't. Imagine what she could do with a red carpet twist on The Fate of Ophelia—or an iridescent gown to reference "Opalite"? There's also the deep archive of Bob Mackie vintage that Swift could pull—just like she has throughout the press and album visuals for The Life of a Showgirl. While she promoted the album throughout the fall, she wore a range of David Koma and Wiederhoeft looks referencing the sequins and shimmer of her tour-inspired album.
Taylor Swift's Grammys red carpet fashion has historically played on her love of following an album theme. In 2024, she accepted the Album of the Year Award for Midnights while announcing The Tortured Poets Department—in a Schiaparelli gown referencing the album's asylum-chic aesthetic. Even in her earliest years attending, she nodded to her evolving sound: crop-tops and dramatic ballgown skirts for 1989, woodsy embroidered Oscar de la Renta florals for Folklore.
There might be another major event keeping Taylor Swift from the 2026 Grammys red carpet: early planning for her anticipated wedding to Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce. The couple announced their engagement in August 2025 and is expected to tie the knot later this year. Here's hoping that by the end of 2026, Swift picks up a few Grammy nominations for The Life of a Showgirl and guarantees a red carpet appearance at the 2027 awards.
