Taylor Swift announced her new record last week in classic, cultish, Swiftie fashion. Visuals for The Life of a Showgirl, her 12th studio album, dropped at 12.12am on August 12 (but her fans had already predicted that, obviously). The album’s imagery set the internet alight. A photoshoot depicted Swift in various showgirl outfits — including one traditional burlesque costume which anyone with any knowledge of showgirls would immediately recognise as a Bob Mackie creation. The American designer is responsible for the majority of modern showgirl looks; the so-called “Guru of Glitter” has worked with everyone from Sir Elton John and Miley Cyrus to Zendaya.
The album is inspired by Swift’s behind-the-scenes experiences on the Eras tour — on the official cover, she poses partly submerged in a bath while wearing a glittery dress by Area, telling a podcast co-hosted by her boyfriend, Travis Kelce: “My show days are the same every single day, I just have a different city. And my day ends with me in a bathtub.”
The showgirl was born in the Parisian music halls of the 1800s, at venues such as the Moulin Rouge, Le Lido and the Folies Bergère. Just as Swift’s cover has sparked controversy due to its risqué nature, the original showgirls raised eyebrows with their nudity-infused performances.
The first nude showgirl appeared at the Folies Bergère in 1918. In 1927, the popularity of the performances in Paris boomed, following a racially subversive turn from now-legendary performer Josephine Baker, a young African-American immigrant. In the famous “Un vent de folie” performance, Baker wore only a skirt made of bananas and a beaded necklace.
While many associate showgirls with Las Vegas, in reality, it took America a long time to join the can-can line. It wasn’t until 1941 that Vegas debuted its first troupe of dancing showgirls at El Rancho Casino. These days, the thirst for showgirl performances in Vegas has waned significantly, with all major shows having closed by 2016. The last showgirls to hang up their heels were the dancers of Jubilee!, which ran for 35 years. Its final days were imitated in the 2024 film The Last Showgirl, starring Pamela Anderson.
Even if showgirls aren’t as common as they used to be, it doesn’t stop them from being an endlessly mined piece of iconography. In a tribute to the real-life showgirls, the Mackie outfit Swift wears in her photoshoot is actually a relic from Jubilee! Sarah Chapelle, author of New York Times best-seller, Taylor Swift Style, calls it a “proper homage to the rich history of showgirl fashion”.
This is far from the first time a pop star has adopted the aesthetic of a showgirl. In the 1970s, Tina Turner and Cher were Mackie’s original muses. Fast forward to 2001, and Britney Spears was wearing a Mackie diamante bralet with a clear cowboy hat for her Dream Within a Dream tour (the bralet sold at auction for $78,000 this April).
That same year, Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mya and Pink became Moulin Rouge showgirls for the Lady Marmalade music video. In 2005, Kylie Minogue embarked on a showgirl-themed greatest hits tour, and in 2006, Beyoncé referenced Josephine Baker’s banana dance routine for a Fashion Rocks performance. More recently, Miley Cyrus turned heads at the 2024 Grammys with a custom Mackie creation of cutouts and cascading, peacock-feather-styled sequins. One year later, the Grammys saw Sabrina Carpenter employ classic burlesque and showgirl routines for the performance of her viral hit, Espresso.
This isn’t even the first time Swift has paid homage to showgirls. In 2022, she featured burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese in her music video for the song Bejeweled, following the release of her 10th studio album Midnights. The video shows Swift teaming up with Von Teese to perform a version of the burlesque star’s classic martini glass routine, which Swift learned for the video. “She knew everything about what I’d done,” Von Teese told interviewers at the time. “And she brought a lot of new fans that maybe had never heard of burlesque, or never heard of me before.”
Now, Swift is dipping her toe into the showgirl martini glass once again. And real-life showgirls are thrilled. “In 17 years I have witnessed so many incarnations of the rise of the showgirl in mainstream culture,” says London-based burlesque dancer Tempest Rose. “Each time it happens I’m immensely proud that our underground, glamorous subculture has once again reached out a glittery stiletto to make its stamp on the mainstream.”
Rose says this kind of endorsement often causes a surge of interest: “Whether it’s at our classes or burlesque shows, and a chance to discuss what we do in the spotlight which is vital to the continued success of the art form.”
She also has a theory on when and why the showgirl gets revived. “The showgirl represents a hidden world of glamour, fantasy and imagination,” she says. “It’s no surprise to me she pops up in times of times of instability and collective unease to present glittering escapism.”
The key facets of a showgirl outfit are clear: sparkles, feathers and pluming headdresses. If anything isn’t glittering, it should be bare. So, will Swift’s impact see the showgirl climb out of the burlesque cellar doors and into the bright light of day? Given the costume-ification of her latest Eras tour, it’s possible.
And even if some of us don’t fancy wriggling into a diamante leotard, it’s possible to flirt with the look by layering pearls, crystal necklaces with lace slips, fishnet tights and even the odd ostrich feather. Vive les showgirls and don’t forget your diamonds — they’re a girl’s best friend, after all.
