Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl: Visual & Aesthetic Predictions (from a Designer & Art Nerd)
Whether you claim Swiftie status or not, one truth holds: Taylor Swift is the Queen of Personal Branding. Every album arrives with its own visual universe and is crafted with the precision of a designer and the theatricality of a director. Her twelfth studio album, Life of a Show Girl, is predicted to be no exception.
This time, the stage lights turn to the archetype of the showgirl. A figure equal parts glamour and grit, luxury and labor. For Swift, it’s a nod to “the luxury that a showgirl puts on when she’s onstage.” and her life during the The Eras Tour.
From Paris cabarets to Vegas casinos, from Fosse’s Broadway grit and seduction to the tabloid-era Y2K pop princess, the “showgirl” has always been more than feathers and sequins. When she’s onstage, she may be seen as glamorous, but offstage she’s dealing with internal struggles. Our resident art history nerd and founder, Michelle Wintersteen, expands on her Life of a Showgirl post to further unpack the five cultural and visual references she predicts Swift will draw from.
BEFORE YOU KEEP READING, BINGE THIS:
1850s-1880s:
Belle Époque Showgirl
The original showgirls weren’t neon-lit Vegas dancers. They were the cancan performers of late-19th-century Paris, framed by gaslight and absinthe haze in “The Beautiful Age.” The Moulin Rouge opened in 1889 as a gateway to both elegance and excess. This is where cancan dancers emerged and were immortalized in Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters.
Yet the art of the period carried a darker undertone. Edgar Degas painted ballerinas not in the glory as we picture them today, but in awkward positions; being watched by predatory men with rats in the sidelines. While these series of paintings are often regarded as pretty, juvenile and sweet, they’re anything but. Degas, a huge misogynist, viewed ballerinas as vermin— buying into the name coined for them— les petits rats (little rodents). These young girls came from poor families, were malnourished and sexually exploited by opera subscribers. Hardly the elegant, daintiness that is attached to them today.
This is Swift’s Reputation undertone: the duality of the luxurious façade and the cost beneath it. It’s entertainment vs. oddity. Michelle also predicts that the musicality will reflect this as well— earworm-y tunes matched with lyrics that will leave you gutted.
Even her album art seems to reference Belle Époque through John Everett Millais’s Ophelia— a hauntingly beautiful painting of Shakespeare’s Ophelia as she dies beautiful even though her soul is tormented by the death of her father. The difference with Swift’s modernization of this is that rather than drowning, her face is breaking the surface and staring directly at the photographer. She signals more resistance, like she’s refusing to be diminished. Will we see this with her upcoming song, Fate of Ophelia?
From this era, expect to see jewel-toned feathers, grunge, absinthe greens, and her Rapturous look.
1920s:
Jazz Age Flapper Showgirl
The Roaring Twenties ushered in the flapper: bobbed hair, sequined fringe, and androgynous silhouettes that blurred gender lines. In speakeasies, jazz pulsed under prohibition’s shadow. Josephine Baker danced in Paris; Clara Bow (who inspired The Tortured Poets Department song) lit up Hollywood. Pleasure was everywhere—but was largely pushed by the fact that it had to be secretive. There became this immense gratification with breaking the rules without getting caught. It was a time of epicurean philosophy where an excess of pleasure was pain.
From an aesthetic standpoint, this is gender-bending, swimming in a glass of champagne, strip teasing, and Babylon-inspired parties with exotic animals. A champagne tower as freedom and as drowning in the excess (Champagne Problems, anyone?). It’s Evermore in visual form: indulgence undercut by restraint. For Swift, we may see deco geometry, fringed gowns, and The Tiny Bubbles in Champagne.
1940-50s:
Las Vegas Showgirl
These women are probably the vision of what comes to mind when you think of a showgirl: tall, gorgeous women wearing glamorous makeup and in towering feather headdresses, rhinestoned corsets, and sequins galore. The aesthetics during this time for the showgirl were larger than life— rotating stages and grand staircases. These large casino showrooms were made for mass consumption and truly coined the name Sin City for Las Vegas.
Stars like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth were noted as sex symbols. Women became both the decoration and the commodity.
For Life of a Showgirl, picture neon casino lights reimagined as camp-level glitz.Think 1989’s pop spectacle with Baby, That’s Show Business style.
1970-80s:
High Drama Grit Glam Showgirl
The 1970s shifted the archetype from chorus to household name. Women were more empowered and embodied the seductress energy. Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra, and Cher’s Bob Mackie gowns embodied glam, grit, and a show-stopping presence (Plus Elizabeth Taylor is one of the titles on the new album). This was the time when Fosse’s choreography ruled Broadway stages through his angular, sharp and seductive movements, making performances feel dark and deliciously magnetic.
Expect smoky cabaret stages, spotlight drama, and sleek costuming that frames her not as one of many, but as the Frightening showgirl with personal stories that defines the era.
Early 2000s:
Y2K Pop Princess Showgirl
This showgirl lived on MTV, in tabloids, and on award-show red carpets. From Britney Spears’ Circus, to Christina Aguilera in Burlesque, to Destiny’s Child’s choreography— women were packaged as hyper-glossy, hyper-feminine, and hyper-sexualised products. This aesthetic is drenched in body glitter, neon lights, and metallics.
Music-wise? Anthem-of-the-era hits that are ridiculously earworm-y— which is exactly what it’s looking like Swift will serve us by teaming up with Max Martin and Shellback again.
Taylor Swift has lived through the tabloid machine and reemerged on her own terms. In Life of a Show Girl, Y2K aesthetics are already surfacing with her It’s Beautiful album cover variant. It’s nostalgia sharpened with agency, not exploitation.
The Takeaway: Why Art History Matters
Across these eras, the showgirl embodies both the outward spectacle and the inner truth and sacrifice. And if you’re a designer, these takeaways of understanding art history isn’t just academic trivia, but a design superpower.
An example of using this on branding projects is coming up with concepts for Dental Hygiene Nation’s subscription boxes, and specifically their Château Dentaire box. We drew inspiration from Christian Dior’s iconic toile de Jouy pattern. Having this knowledge on art history allows you the designer to grab from a wide breadth of inspiration and gives you valuable cultural context for understanding current design trends.
So as Swift turns the spotlight on the showgirl, we turn the spotlight on art history. And when you know where visual language comes from, you can predict where it’s headed next.
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