I don’t know about you, but Blake Stiebel is definitely feeling 22 after receiving Taylor Swift’s coveted black fedora during the Eras Tour stop in Miami on Saturday.
“This video camera just comes over and records me and my mom for like three-and-a-half minutes during ‘You Belong With Me,’” the 8-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, says. “And then after ‘Love Story’ this lady came over and was like, ‘You guys come with us.’”
“Love Story” is the last song in Swift’s “Fearless” era during the concert. It’s the song proceeding “22,” when one lucky fan in the crowd of tens of thousands is chosen by Swift’s tour team. The fan is placed at the edge of the catwalk and waits for the singer and her dancers to come skipping down the stage to hand off the Holy Grail of Swift fashion.
“She came down to my height, and she was like, ‘Oh my God, I love your outfit, it’s just like the one I wear,’” Blake recounts. “Then she gave me a high-five, she hugs me, and then she gave me the hat.”
Fans search TikTok and Google to find out how they can nab the extraordinary cap made by milliner Gladys Tamez. Only 149 hats will be handed out during the Eras Tour. Swift autographs each inside brim with permanent marker and writes the night on it. For Stiebel’s hat, she wrote “Miami night two.”
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When the superstar handed off the black head covering, Blake’s mom Jennifer Stiebel screamed, “Taylor I love you.” In a video capturing the exchange, you can see Swift turn toward he and wave before returning to the three-plus-hour show.
“It’s magical,” Stiebel says. “There’s no other word to describe it. It’s just pure magic, and looking back I just, I cry every time I watch the video.”
Blake almost didn’t make it to the Eras Tour. Her mom asked one of her friends with Confirmed 360 — a live events concierge service that gets customers into sold-out venues — if they could find two seats. They found two near the front row of the lower bowl. That was the golden spot for Francesca von Boeselager, an 8-year-old who got the hat in London. Usually the young fans who dance and sing are chosen when Swift’s team is looking around the massive audience. And then they are whisked away for a quick moment with the singer.
“Now we’re besties,” Blake laughs. When asked if she has any advice for others who hope to get the “22” hat, she says, “Dance and sing as much as you can and just have so much fun!”
