Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce: the most hegemonic couple in the industry. Is this really what we need to celebrate?
The US media has already decided: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are the country’s “royal couple.” White, blonde, successful and wealthy. The hegemonic ideal. And there’s nothing questionable about their relationship itself —congratulations to them for their love— but there is plenty to question in what it represents. When headlines start linking their engagement to a supposed “revitalisation of the American style” (by the way… America is a continent, not a country) or to “the aesthetic capable of uniting a divided nation,” it’s time to stop and ask: which United States are you really talking about?
Because the reality of the US is not just blondes with blue eyes. The real US is also Black, Latinx, Asian, Native, racialised, queer and fat. And yet, that spectrum of identities vanishes when the media decides to use a white couple to sell, once again, the old American dream wrapped in Ralph Lauren denim and vintage rings. It’s an uncomfortable déjà vu of the 1990s, when white hegemony was the aesthetic mould everyone was expected to replicate.
When Jay-Z and Beyoncé married in 2008 —at the height of their careers— they were never called the royal couple. There were no specials on the “new face of America.” Nobody spoke of redeeming the country through Black love. Why? Because even in 2025, structural racism still defines which stories deserve universal glorification and which are dismissed with indifference.
Of course, we celebrate Swift’s emotional wellbeing after years of failed relationships. And yes, Kelce seems to be a respectful partner. But elevating them into unquestionable symbols of the US collective imagination is a dangerous leap. Especially when their image reinforces exclusionary racial and body standards.
This phenomenon is not isolated. Weeks ago, American Eagle’s campaign with Sydney Sweeney sparked controversy for its whitewashed, nostalgic aesthetic. Now, the same brand has signed Kelce as ambassador —a desperate attempt, it seems, to reconcile that narrative with a powerful, media-friendly male figure.
Is there really no other way to sell “Americanness” than by reverting to the same old mould? If Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger or Levi’s want to survive in a more conscious and diverse world, they must stop recycling racial myths and start building new images: more plural, more honest, more representative.
Taylor and Travis can be happy, yes. But don’t tell us their story is everyone’s story.
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