How Hayley Williams Prepped Her London The Eras Tour Looks — Including That Speak Now Reference (Exclusive)

Paramore has played thousands of live shows, but this summer, they’re bringing their set to a whole new audience: Swifties. The rock trio fronted by Hayley Williams is opening Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour for a handful of European dates, and for the three-night stint at London’s Wembley Stadium, Williams joined forces with designer Stella McCartney to create four distinct stage looks. Each outfit honored Williams’ chameleonic style, from Stella’s “Rock Royalty” tee to a feminine cutout purple dress that serves as an Easter egg for die-hard Taylor Swift fans.

Williams’ stylist, Lindsey Hartman, wanted to “give [Swifties] a callback that would mean something to them,” so for Williams and Swift’s duet of “Castles Crumbling,” Hartman chose a dress that harkened back to “the last time [they] performed on stage together in 2011, during the Speak Now tour. During that performance, Taylor wears a purple dress with an extremely similar silhouette, so it was an absolute no-brainer when we tried that on.” Two other looks tapped into Williams’ true rock roots: a cropped black jacket and mini shorts paired with a vintage tee, and the now-infamous “Rock Royalty” tee — first seen on both McCartney and Liv Tyler at the 1999 Met Gala — worn with a pair of crystal briefs for the ultimate ’90s-meets-today effect.

The fitting was a dream for the stylist-artist duo. The Stella McCartney team in London welcomed them with open arms (and a custom Falabella bag with Williams’ face on it), and Hartman was elated when McCartney herself popped in and said hello: “As a hero of mine and Hayley’s, it was so sweet to see how excited she was about us when we were nearly fainting over her. The whole process was so easy and magical. We both left being like ‘Why can’t every day be like this?!’” Photographer Daria Kobayashi Ritch tagged along to capture the fitting, snapping pictures of the final adjustments, and she even caught Williams and McCartney catching up on the couch. NYLON got in touch with Williams to hear more about working with McCartney, her current stage aesthetic, and her holy grail vintage T-shirt.

When you’re building outfits for tour, comfort is obviously the No. 1 priority. What else do you look for in a great stage look?

I kind of just love simple concepts with stage looks. Like, just let me get out there and get to work — I have sh*t to do! And I am quite partial to a masc moment right now… a la Freddie Mercury’s look for Queen’s set at Live Aid.

How was the creative process working with Stella and her team? What was the inspiration behind the four looks?

I feel really lucky that that was my first experience working head on with such a big name in fashion. The whole process with Stella and her team was really empowering for me. We started with my look for the “Castles Crumbling” duet with Taylor. I spotted the purple halter dress on the rack and immediately loved the idea of doing my own version of what Taylor would wear during the Speak Now shows. Then, we just decided to go a bit further and put looks together for the Paramore sets as well.

Night One was the most femme, and I loved referencing Stella’s “Rock Royalty” moment at the Met Gala. For Night Two, I paired one of her cropped suit jackets and micro shorts with a vintage “Beatlemania” tee I found at a vintage shop in Nashville. Night Three was my favorite though, and more in line with how I’m dressing for our opening sets all summer. I wore the tank Stella wore for her dad’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with some old beat-up Dickies carpenter pants and vintage Puma wrestling boots.

Your vintage tee collection is admirable. Is there one tee in particular you have your eye on?

I have one really, really good Fleetwood Mac tee from their Tusk tour. It’s baby blue and perfectly worn in. I think I’d like to find a good Tango in the Night era tee. Time to save the “Fleetwood” search on all my fav sites and apps and beg Black Shag in Nashville to save me any that come through their doors!