How Taylor Swift is reinventing her style for a new 'Showgirl' era
Another album, another standout sartorial era.
On Wednesday night, Taylor Swift unveiled the tracklist and album artwork for her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, which will be released on Oct. 3. Just as the album's title suggests, Swift has so far referenced burlesque imagery in her looks, with feathered boas, opulent headpieces and scalloped diamonds fit for the most glamorous burlesque dancer. With help from luxury houses like Area, The Blonds and Rene Caovilla, Swift's Showgirl era is already underscoring that more is more — and that a true Vegas showgirl always embraces excess.
For the album cover of The Life of a Showgirl, Swift wore an intricate, crystal-embellished minidress with a balconette-style bra and scalloped cutouts from embellishment designer Area. The garment hails from the brand's Spring 2022 collection and nods to what Vogue describes as 'the glitz of an off-duty Vegas dancer.'
Art Deco-inspired glamour appears to be the theme of Swift's recently unveiled Showgirl era. Also among her featured album artwork ensembles is a rhinestone-incrusted, deep red one-piece with a corseted bodice and pointed accents along the bust from The Blonds Fall/Winter 2024 collection. Swift completed the look with matching opera gloves and knee-high boots, along with her signature fishnet tights.
Swift's voluminous ostrich feather Showgirl look is from The Blond's Fall 2025 collection, too. Sarah Chappelle, a Swift-focused fashion critic, notes how the brand's designers previously said that their muse for this specific collection was a 'model, showgirl, it-girl, or an actress' — appropriate descriptors for Swift's Deco-coded sartorial era. The False God hitmaker paired the extravagant, light pink getup with a crystal headpiece and chandelier wrap-around sandals by Rene Caovilla.
Swift's Showgirl style is capturing the attention of both Swifties and high-fashion aficionados in general. Jack Savoie, a stylist and content creator, was delighted by Swift's commitment to the maximalist allure of Vegas showgirl dressing.
'This era is pure glamour,' Savoie told Yahoo. 'The crystals, sweeping feathers, and gorgeous heels. It's a celebration of beauty and craftsmanship. I think it's right on trend especially after Pamela Anderson's role in The Last Showgirl. Showgirl dressing requires lots of time, details, craftsmanship and artistry and I can only imagine the joy her stylist, Joseph Cassell Falconer, is having creating these unforgettable looks.'
That Swift is clad in decadent designs isn't anything new. The Guilty as Sin pop star has proven herself to be a high-fashion darling, as she made clear with the slew of custom designer looks she wore during her record-breaking 'Eras Tour,' which concluded late last year. Vivienne Westwood, Roberto Cavalli and Alberta Ferretti are just a handful of designers who helped bring Swift's distinct eras to life through fashion.
With The Life of a Showgirl, Swift takes the glitz and glamour peppered through prior eras to showstopping new heights. Swift first gave audiences a taste of her Showgirl inclinations with the 'Bejeweled' music video from her Midnights era, tapping famed burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese to recreate her sultry martini glass dance in the video. In another scene from the video, Swift has a major Moulin Rouge! moment in a custom, crystal two-piece designed by Michael Schmidt Studios.
While on Travis and Jason Kelce's podcast New Heights on Wednesday night, Swift unveiled the inspiration behind The Life of a Showgirl era: She wanted to dramatize the realities of life on the road. Swift visited 21 countries over the course of 21 months during the 'Eras Tour,' which kicked off in March 2023 and concluded in December 2024. Clocking in 149 shows across five continents, it became the highest-grossing tour of all-time.
'My day ends with me in a bathtub, not usually in a bedazzled dress. … I wanted to sort of like, glamorize all the aspects of how the tour felt,' Swift said on the podcast. 'The reason I wanted to have an offstage moment as the main album cover is because this album isn't really about what happened to me onstage. It's about what I was going through offstage.'
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