Strabane Swiftie hand makes outfit for Taylor concert

AN ASPIRING fashion designer from Strabane almost stole the show at a Taylor Swift concert in Dublin last week after she handmade her own idol-inspired costume.

Twenty-year-old Morgan McDaid, a former pupil of St Columba’s PS in Clady and Holy Cross College in Strabane, has just finished her first year studying Textiles, Art, Design and Fashion in Ulster University, Belfast.

And, putting her skills to good use for the concert, Morgan fashioned an outstanding outfit, one which was in the planning as early as last year after she scooped her tickets for Taylor Swift’s sold out Era Tour in the Aviva Stadium.

Speaking with the Chronicle, Morgan explained the inspiration behind the handmade outfit.

“I’ve loved Taylor Swift since I was really young, and I had never been to one of her concerts but I followed them online.

“I had seen over Tiktok during her American tour that so many people made their own costumes which made me want to create my own.”

Morgan combined two of Swift’s different looks, her blue and gold bodysuit along with a purple and silver piece with tassels, to fashion her own unique piece.

“My favourite outfit of Taylor’s is the Lover bodysuit which she wears in the opening of the Eras Tour but I wanted to make it my own so I made mine a blue and silver one with stars inspired my her album Midnights

Some 70 hours of toil and 94,000 rhinestones later, and the finished product was a thing to be admired.

“I ordered over 94,000 Rhinestones to create my outfit,” Morgan continued.

“I painted the souls of my boots red to match Taylor’s Christian Louboutins she wears on tour and then rhinstoned them with blue and silver stones which took over 20 hours for each boot.

“I ordered a dance leotard online and used my mannequin to draw out the structure of where I wanted to place my stones and then glued each rhinestone individually on.

“After I had completed that I had hundreds of sequins in different colours and hand-sewed each sequin all over the bodysuit and I then hand-sewed tassels around the trim of the bodysuit on each side to finish it off.

“It took over 30 hours to complete the bodysuit, across three weeks.”

On whether or not the labour was worth it, Morgan continued, “It was definitely worth it. I was so happy with my outfit and it turned out a million times better than what i expected.

“I got so many compliments throughout the whole day and I even heard people talking about my boots and how I had the patience to do it.”

She continued, “I definitely can imagine doing this as a career. I hope to become a knitwear designer – I have a huge love of knitting and crochet.

“I also would love to make more outfits for concerts as it was such an enjoyable experience.”