Straight man’s fiancee supports his Taylor Swift-inspired cross-dressing hobby after thinking alter ego was rival lover

A straight man whose fiancee supports his Taylor Swift-inspired cross-dressing hobby has said dressing up allows him to embrace a “different side” of himself.

Luke, 25, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, has been cross-dressing since secondary school after feeling “jealous” of girls his age.

With support from his partner Aime, 23, Luke has created a Taylor Swift-themed wardrobe, complete with hand-crafted outfits inspired by the pop star’s different musical eras – despite the challenges of being 6ft 2in and a size 11 shoe.

Luke, who did not wish to share his surname, is intent on creating further costumes after watching the American singer perform twice during the Eras Tour last year, and may even be inspired to step out publicly as his female alter ego to future concerts.

He posts his outfits online to Reddit as “Lilly” and, initially, he kept his unusual hobby a complete secret from those who know him in real life – but he was forced to reveal his pastime to his partner of nearly eight years early on in their relationship.

“She thought that I was cheating on her with somebody called Lilly – she’d seen the name on my phone and actually confronted me about it,” Luke told PA Real Life.

“She was a little bit like, ‘I don’t really know how to take this’ to begin with, but then she slowly grew into it, and now she’s like, ‘It’s actually alright’, and she supports me.”

The couple got engaged near Salzburg in Austria over the new year, with Luke asserting that he identifies as a straight man, and has no intention of presenting publicly as a woman or transitioning to female any time soon.

Luke first became interested in cross-dressing as a teenager.

“I was sort of jealous,” he explained.

“The way girls look and act, there’s a part of me inside that wanted to go in that direction a little bit.

“I just thought, I’ll get basic things, and went from there, and then when I got a job, it meant I could buy more clothes, wigs and makeup.”

The first outfit he ever wore, aged 14, comprised a white crop top, padded bra, a black pleated skirt and black tights.

“When I put on ‘girl’ clothes for the first time, I kind of felt a feeling I hadn’t experienced before and it almost felt right to me,” Luke explained.

“I had butterflies in my stomach as I was quite nervous about it but also really excited at the same time.

“I ended up wearing the outfit for a few hours late into the night as I didn’t want to take it off as it felt so good and it felt so right as well.”

He saw how welcoming people were on cross-dressing pages on Reddit and, in September 2023, aged 23, he felt brave enough to share a photo of himself dressed as Lilly.

The initial post was a selfie of him wearing makeup and a long brunette wig, with an orange top.

He said: “It got quite a good reception, and when you’re getting people commenting nice things to you, it’s nice to get that little bit of attention, considering nobody really knows about the hobby.

“That’s what made me want to do it more, just getting the nice feedback from people.”

Through Reddit, Luke has also connected with other straight men who share his hobby.

“They just enjoy showing that different side of them a little bit, and it’s similar with me,” he explained.

Typically, Luke will spend one to two evenings a week dressed up as Lilly, and has dedicated time over the last year to look more “like a girl” and less “like a guy in a dress”.

“Recently I have brought a tear to my eye when I felt I had done a good job of how I looked – as if to say, ‘Wow, Lilly is a real person and not someone made up’,” he said.

He takes photos of himself when he feels that he looks especially good as Lilly – but does not exclusively dress up for third-party online validation.

At first, Luke admits he was not very good at doing his own makeup – but has since practised to improve his skills.

He said: “I actually tried to do it on Aime first before I even did it to myself and it was awful.”

Aime helped Luke by buying him his first makeup collection as he had “no idea” what to look for.

His interest in Taylor Swift and fashion merged after the couple attended the Eras Tour twice last year, in Liverpool on June 15 and London on August 19.

Having been inspired by fans making their own costumes, after the Liverpool show Luke started crafting his own Taylor Swift-inspired outfits which he posted on Reddit, including a Midnights album-themed bodysuit.

He spent £4 on a blue bodysuit from Shein, £8 on gems from Hobbycraft and £4 on tinsel from Amazon – with the outfit taking around four days to put together.

“It took forever to do,” Luke said.

“I had never sewn before in my life, so I taught myself from watching YouTube videos.”

He added: “The second time we saw Taylor, I was really tempted to go as Lilly, but I didn’t know if I’d feel comfortable actually trying to do it.”

Luke admires the singer’s “doesn’t care” attitude, particularly reflected by the Reputation era, and feels some of that confidence is reflected in Lilly’s persona.

He has since sourced other women’s clothing, including a gold fringed dress to represent Swift’s Fearless era, and an orange crop top and blue pleated skirt to emulate her 1989-inspired looks.

Luke plans to make more outfits – one for each of the singer’s eras – and would love a purple ballgown akin to Swift’s Speak Now Eras Tour wardrobe.

“Maybe if Taylor Swift tours again, I’d go to a show in full costume – I’d have to see, but I’d hope that I would, I feel like it’d be quite fun to do that,” he said.