Look of the Week: Taylor Swift enters her showgirl era

With Taylor Swift, a new album unveils a new “era,” and a new era dictates a new costume. This time, she embodies the dazzling spirit of a Las Vegas dancer for her upcoming album “The Life of a Showgirl.”

It’s a far cry from the woolen overcoats and broderie-anglais dresses of “Folklore” (2020), or the copper baker boy hats of “Red” (2012). But on this record, Swift is interrogating an increasingly large part of her life — her experience as a world-famous pop star and lacquered performer. In 2024, her “Era’s Tour,” which took place in 51 cities across 5 continents, became the highest-grossing tour of all time. On “New Heights,” the podcast her boyfriend Travis Kelce runs with his older brother Jason, Swift said she wrote the album during the tour’s European leg. “Literally living the life of a showgirl,” said Travis Kelce. “It’s the life behind it all, it’s the life beyond the show,” said Swift.

 

 

On the cover of the record, the singer is dressed in a crystal embellished demi-bra with webs of jewels trailing down her torso and submerged in what appears to be a bathtub. In another image, she poses with her arms wide in another showgirl-inspired outfit covered in sparkling gems. But the sexed-up, glamorous costumes are juxtaposed with empty theatres and cold, green light, perhaps a nod to the quiet, lonelier moments after everybody has gone home.

While the decision to expose more skin in this way is a new direction for Swift as an artist, she isn’t the first performer to embrace the sartorial codes of this type of entertainer. In fact, she is in excellent company.

Modern-day pop stars have long referenced the image of the showgirl. Typically dating back to late 19th century Parisian music halls, chorus girls, burlesque or fan dancers were defined by their glamorous, often revealing, matching outfits. The Las Vegas showgirl, which later became its own brand entirely, is now more closely associated with crystalline cage bras, diamanté panties and tall feather headdresses.

 

 

 

 

Stars such as Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Mariah Carey have all taken turns dressing up in the iconic garb. Carey for her 2009 music video “I Stay in Love,” Perry for “Waking up in Vegas” the same year and Beyoncé while performing at an entertainment resort in Atlantic City in 2012. Christina Aguilera’s scene-stealing performance of “Lady Marmalade” in Moulin Rouge means she is now inextricably linked with showgirl styling. (She is also an executive producer on the theater show “Burlesque: The Musical” currently on show in London’s West End). For her 2005 tour, Kylie Minogue performed at least four songs in a leotard dripping in crystals, a giant feather bustle and an enormous feather headdress. More recently Addison Rae, whose 2025 self-titled album made the charts in both the US and UK, donned a gem-encrusted cage bra for her “High Fashion” music video.

Why have these pop stars been so drawn to the glittering facade of a showgirl? It could be the feminine styling, the makeup, the intricate costuming designed to captivate audiences and make the most of stage lighting. Or perhaps they feel an affinity to these hard-working dancers, outside of the obvious glitz and glamour: Their dedication, talent and grit.

Last year, night after night, Swift performed for stadiums of people in high-octane outfits, drawing on a seemingly bottomless reserve of energy. It was a grueling schedule, perhaps rivalled only by that of a Vegas showgirl. Of the album’s contents, Swift said: “It’s what I was going through off-stage.” No matter what happens in private, both understand the show must go on.