In the end, Travis Kelce decided to match his bride, Taylor Swift, in a couture look by Jonathan Anderson for Dior. When it comes to fashion, as apparently much else, their choice of designer was a statement about being on the same page.
A representative for Swift confirmed Anderson as the designer. No photos of the couple’s looks have been released.
Still, the choice of one of the most storied French couture houses for his wedding suit, albeit one with a buzzy new designer, is a notable move for the groom, who likes to stand out and isn’t afraid of taking risks with his clothes. Occasionally outrageous dressing — worn with a grin — has become part of his brand, and he understood early on how fashion could be used to build it.
Last month, Mike Amiri, a designer whose work he often wears, described Kelce’s attitude this way: “He’ll pick the most ’70s-fitting suit. He’s not scared. My kids will come down and say ‘Dad, he’s getting roasted on social,’ and Travis is like: ‘It’s good. It’s good. It’s everywhere.’”
Kelce’s style evolution has mirrored his rising profile in pop culture and the growing fashion influence in football. As a relatively unknown third-round pick of the Chiefs in 2013, Kelce appeared on the day of the N.F.L. draft in an anonymous teal quarter-zip, looking very much like a college jock. In his early years in the league, he favored the long T-shirts, slim distressed jeans and hoodies that were typical of the streetwear of the time.
But as brands began to see tunnel walks as an opportunity to get their designs in front of a mass audience, and as players (and their agents) saw an opportunity to use clothes to craft their image, Kelce became more style-conscious. He arrived at the games wearing Heron Preston and Thom Browne and sat front row at Browne’s spring-summer runway show in Paris in 2020.
When he started dating Taylor Swift in the summer of 2023, his style choices drew even more attention. Those choices were mostly his own: While he used red-carpet stylists for special appearances, his pregame and date-night looks were ones he put together himself. (It’s an approach to dressing not unlike that of Swift, who has a stylist but also seems to pick her own off-duty outfits, often with equally mixed results.)
Kelce has worn runway names like Jil Sander, Marni and Chanel, as well as indie designers like R13 and Collina Strada. He was especially fond of one Collina Strada design in particular: crushed-velvet cargo pants, of which he owned at least three pairs. In September he will take on his most fashion-centric role yet, as an ambassador and “creative collaborator” for Tommy Hilfiger, bringing what the designer called (in something of an understatement) “his fearless, fun-loving and bold take on Prep Made Current” to the brand.
Occasionally, that take has sometimes activated observers’ inner fashion critic. He’s played around with head-to-toe sequins, jaunty prints and pants of various widths. Still, it was a pair of bland khaki Ralph Lauren shorts — very Hyannis Port, very preppy coded, worn in the Instagram post in which he appears on bended knee before Swift, who was also in Ralph Lauren — that prompted some of the strongest reactions. Some wondered: Was it perhaps a bit tacky to propose in shorts?
They were missing the point. It was a carefully chosen bit of couples image-making; the perfect costume for Kelce’s role as the “gym teacher” to Swift’s “English teacher.” And a harbinger, perhaps, of what is next as two of the most powerful brands in pop culture become one.
