If Taylor Swift was wearing lipstick in the past, there was a 99 percent chance it was red. (Did you know she wore her very first red lip on the cover of Allure in 2009?) The color has become part of her signature look alongside her go-to cat-eye liner, but lately, she’s put the Pat McGrath Elson and NARS Dragon Girl aside in favor of a new hue—and we have some ideas about why.
Swifties have noticed an uptick in floral-themed outfits (and even floral hairstyles!) over the past few months; Swift has attended weddings and events in floral-print gowns and cocktail dresses, and it seems to be too much of a pattern not to be a hint at something. Along with these botanical outfits, she’s also started wearing a different lip color: true rose. The color is not exactly red, not exactly pink, but a merger of both with just a hint of warmth, and it appears to be her latest lip color obsession. But what does it really mean?
The rosy color made its first big appearance at her Grammy Museum Songwriters and Composers conversation, but it also popped up on Swift during her clever Law & Order: SVU sendup during the 2026 Primetime Emmys, where she appeared in a pre-recorded skit alongside host Mariska Hargitay, poking fun at all the wide-ranging fan theories about her music and life. (And yes, her cat Olivia Benson made a cameo.) Instead of a bright red or cinnamon orange, her lip color was definitely in the “rose” territory.
The reason Swift wasn’t at the Emmys was because she was at her husband Travis Kelce’s first game of the NFL season, and while we first thought she was wearing a Chiefs red lipstick in the VIP box, upon closer examination, that’s definitely a rose color, albeit a darker one than her Grammys performance or Emmys skit! Hmmm… compelling.