The Worst Wigs Taylor Swift Has Ever Worn

Superstar Taylor Swift's hairstyle tends to evolve with her eras. From the free-spirited spiral curls of her "Fearless" days to the pin-straight locks of the "Red" era to her short sleek bob during the "1989" album cycle, her hair has helped her brand each release and signal the transition to a new musical aesthetic. But despite her signature hairstyles, Swift has flirted occasionally with wigs —sometimes while playing "characters" in her music videos — and they haven't all been good.

That said, the good ones have been really good. Take, for example, the edgy dirty blonde wig with pink tips she wore for "I Knew You Were Trouble." The hairpiece not only looked right, but helped her take her performance in the video to the next level. As she told MTV at the time (via Billboard), "I actually got to feel like I was this different girl, who was pulled into this different storyline, and with the pink hair and everything. I felt like it really kind of showed how she changed."

On the flip side, there have been some real stinker fake hair looks, too. Sure, the concepts behind the wigs might be great from a storytelling perspective, the execution hasn't always been, well, so gorgeous.

It would be hard to find a worse wig than the shaggy red number Taylor Swift sports for the climax of the "Bad Blood" music video. Freshly reconstructed after a devastated and deadly friendship betrayal, the Grammy-winning songwriter stalks into battle wearing a shoulder-length wig in a dramatically different shade than the shiny blonde hair from the video's intro. The 2015 look is giving Mila Jovovich in "The Fifth Element," which fits the Joseph Kahn-directed video's futuristic, action-movie vibe. The symbolism is clear: Swift is back and she's harder, faster, and definitely frizzier.

Still, it's only marginally worse than the brunette wig that Swift wears in the 2008 music video for "You Belong With Me." Despite the brown hue, the long wig manages to evoke blonde icon Regina George. Of course, Swift appears in the video as two different characters — one in a sleek brunette wig, and the other in her real-life blonde curls. The distinct hairstyles make it all the easier to tell the understated, sneaker-wearing narrator apart from the popular, slightly sadistic cheer captain. Fans know all too well that blonde Swift gets the guy in the end; sticking that mean girl character with a bad wig is just rubbing salt in the wound.

On-again, off-again movie star Taylor Swift put her acting hat back on for the 2014 film adaptation of "The Giver." On first glance, you might not recognize her — and that was the intent. As director Phillip Noyce told Variety at the premiere, "We just tried to make her distinctive and un-Taylor-like." Thanks to that majorly distracting brown wig, they succeeded. The delicately featured superstar makes a striking brunette, but there's something lifeless and dull about these locks. The film reportedly cost $25 million to make but apparently, the wig budget was left in the dust.

A few years later, Swift went red again for a guest appearance in the 2018 music video for "Babe" by Sugarland. In the "Man Men"-esque video, Swift plays the other woman as she offers backing vocals on a track that she helped pen for the country duo. While her bouncy curls fit the 1960s-themed video, there's something oddly unnatural about her red color. Yes, the auburn locks are a narratively appropriate visual contrast to Sugarland vocalist Jennifer Nettles' blonde hair, but the color looks more futuristic than retro.

Still, when it comes to Swift, she shines brightest as a blonde. Perhaps the old saying bears out: to thine own blonde self be true.