Fashion Jury: Taylor Swift Ups The Sex Appeal At The ACM Awards

Taylor Swift may have left the ACM (American Country Music Awards FYI) empty handed last night, but the singer certainly took home the price for ‘The Best Sexy Over/Bringing Sexy Back’. Wearing a J.Mendel white cut-out crop top with a floor length skirt with a snazzy split up the side, Tay-Tay marked another moment in her progression from teeny popper to red carpet vixen. Naturally with a statement of this magnitude we had to decode the dress and stage a fashion jury. Here is what Josh Newis-Smith and Hannah Almassi from our fashion team thought of Taylor’s apparel….

Josh Newis-Smith says...

Watch out! It turns out that Harry Styles might not have been the one who was trouble when he walked in… perhaps it was Taylor all along! Where are the floral dresses, the varsity jackets and the high waisted shorts? It appears that Tay-Tay has taken a Swift detour from her old dressing routes. Of course this is not a sudden departure for the guitar playing, song writing power house, we have seen various Tay does racy numbers of late. It’s great to see the teen hero blossom into a fully-fledged female feline and this crop top and skirt number is another mark of her style transformation. Unlike certain other female singers, who shall not be named, Taylor has tackled sexy with a side helping of demure, in order to not make a meal of it. The carefully placed cut out details and the sharp accessories marry together to create monochrome magic. Top marks for resisting the urge to do the Angelina leg out of the split move babes and the slight bed hair wave tops everything off nicely. Rest assured team it’s not all change, the signature red lip is still going strong.

Hannah Almassi says...

Tay Tay goes sex-ay! It’s not the first time we’ve seen the country and western cutie err on the Victoria’s Secret side of sass-tacular. In fact, since she performed on the ultra-famous VS runway earlier this season, there’s been a noticeable – if incremental – shift in Swifty’s style. Let’s not forget, the girl is growin’ up, so her choices – both on and off the red carpet – are bound to be in flux. Right now she’s harnessing her incredible looks and body and employing them to their full potential; there aren’t many others who could pull off this white crop top, black thigh-slitted combination and still manage to look so approachable. There a confident swagger to her strut, but that said, I would’ve really enjoyed to see a little less refined perfection. Did the retro Hollywood hair need to be so set in place? Would a vampy scarlet lip have been a little cooler than peachy pink? Did she need a clutch bag? When in doubt, one must think: ‘What would Rihanna do?’ And therein lies the solution.

Take a trip through the Taylor Swift archive to see how the singer's look has transformed in the gallery below...