Swiftie secret sessions & Sold out skirts: The eras of designer Cassey Ho
May 07, 2024 – [[read-time]] minute read
Back in 2014, YouTube creator Cassey Ho was surprised to find herself in Taylor Swift’s Los Angeles living room rocking out to “Blank Space.” But there she was among a small group of Swifties handpicked to hear Taylor’s newest album – 1989 – played live before its official release. As a fitness creator, athleisure designer and long time Taylor Swift fan, Cassey could have never imagined that a decade later, Swift would be proudly sporting one of her viral designs and be a fan of her creative work as well.
The Eras of Cassey Ho
Like Swift, Cassey’s been through some pretty transformative eras of her own. Despite developing a love of both fitness and fashion at a young age, Ho initially intended to pursue a more “practical” path — becoming a doctor.
“When I was in high school I told my dad I wanted to be a fashion designer and he looked me straight in the eye and said you have three choices. 1) You can be a doctor 2) You can be a lawyer or 3) You can be a failure,” Cassey explained in her acceptance speech for the 2018 Digital Influencer Award. “Following my passion was one of the scariest things I had to do at that time.”
“ My current era is Designer Era as I push myself to innovate and invent more. I’m having so much fun and I wake up everyday inspired to create.”
Despite her dad’s warnings echoing in her head, Ho became a pilates instructor and designed her first yoga bag in 2009 while still in college studying biology and, upon graduating, she went all in on her passions. She took a job training to become a fashion buyer and started uploading pilates videos to her Blogilates YouTube channel, quickly gaining a loyal following. Today, Blogilates has over 9.7 million subscribers and Cassey has been able to platform that success into multiple brands, including a Blogilates line of fitness gear available exclusively at Target and her own active wear company, Popflex.
"My current era is Designer Era as I push myself to innovate and invent more,” says Cassey. “I’m having so much fun and I wake up everyday inspired to create.”
Throughout her entire career, Cassey has been a multi hyphenate entrepreneur: fitness instructor, YouTube creator, fashion designer and savvy business owner. And, her content has shifted to reflect that. Her short form videos pull back the curtain on her process as a designer, from deciding where to put pockets to thinking through fabric breathability, so that her loyal YouTube community can be part of the journey.
From “1989” to 2024
Now, ten years after that initial Secret Session, Cassey has seen her hard work pay off in the most unexpected and exciting way. She was at the salon, hair in the dye bowl, when Taylor Swift posted a YouTube Short promoting her newest album, The Tortured Poets Department. In it, Cassey saw Taylor on the pickleball court wearing her very own Popflex lilac skort design.
“ In a way, Taylor re-recording her old albums are like me being awarded a patent on my skort. It feels like ultimate Karma….Taylor’s version of course.”
“My husband Sam called me 10 times, but my phone was on Do Not Disturb. Finally he gets through and he tells me to check my messages. My DM’s and slack messages are BLOWING UP. Everyone’s telling me to go watch the Fortnight video on YouTube Shorts. When I see Taylor in my Pirouette Skort…I die. I was in complete shock. Could not move. Could not think. I was not functioning.”
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And while we don’t know for sure, there seems to be a chance that Swift even mentioned Cassey’s design in the album itself with the lyrics ““Lilac short skirt, the one that fits me like skin” opening the storied song “Imgonnagetyouback.”
According to the Popflex team, the skorts — which have now been renamed “Pirouette Skort (Cassey's Version)” as a nod to Taylor Swift’s re-recorded masters — sold out almost instantly. To keep up with the high demand, they’ve opened a pre-sale and claim that “over 10,000 skorts in that one color have been pre-sold.”
“We have never before done a pre-sale on an item that won’t come for months, but we decided to give it a shot. Why? The duping has been so intense on my patented Pirouette Skort and we wanted to make sure there was a place for customers to buy the real thing before being tricked by counterfeiters to buy a fake,” says Cassey. “Taylor’s ability to take negativity and turn it into a situation that she can take full control of is the ultimate inspiration. In a way, Taylor re-recording her old albums are like me being awarded a patent on my skort. So to have Taylor Swift - the leader in the fight to protect creative work - wear my skort, it feels like ultimate Karma….Taylor’s version of course.”