00:00We know Taylor Swift is known for her eras, but did you think about the fact that there are
00:04showgirl eras also? I'm Michelle, I'm a brand designer and your resident art history nerd.
00:09And as soon as Taylor announced the life of the showgirl theme and the song list, my brain started
00:13going a million miles an hour thinking back on all of the different ways you could interpret
00:17a showgirl theme. In chronological order, the first showgirl theme that Taylor could lean into
00:21is what I'm calling Belle Epoque showgirl. Popularized in Parisian 1850s by artists like
00:27Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec. This theme is beautiful, but also kind of garish, which is where we're
00:32getting the orange and the mint color palette from. Also noting famous impressionist paintings
00:36like the fate of Othelia. But this type of showgirl could tell the story of facade and fragility. Next,
00:43the jazz age or flapper era showgirl. Think Great Gadsby, jazz music, fringe, sequins, champagne towers,
00:50and maybe a little bit of a champagne problems theme in the lyrics. Of course, we can't talk showgirl
00:56without talking famous Vegas showgirl. Popularized in the 1940s and the 1950s. Think feathers,
01:02rhinestones, neon lights, mass spectacle. This is camp, this is bold, and this is where we're seeing
01:08those big feather headdresses come into play. This is the performer, and this is the showgirl,
01:13the entertainer. One of my other favorite eras of showgirl is a 1970s, 1980s, grungy,
01:20Broadway starlet showgirl. This is the Elizabeth Taylor of it all, Liza Minnelli, Cher. Think Bob
01:27Fosse choreography, angular lines, big ballads, and kind of this like cell block tango, sexy,
01:34mysterious. Vigilante shit, anyone? Reputation era, anyone? Last and certainly not least,
01:40we can't not talk about the Y2K pop princess showgirl, especially Britney Spears in all of her glory.
01:46Think circus era, Mariah, Christina, Destiny's Child, hyper glam, hyper feminine, red carpet showgirl,
01:53neon colors, metallics, body glitter, a nostalgia for millennials like myself thinking back on our
01:59first pop star obsession. Across all of these eras, the showgirl is a combination of spectacle
02:04and sacrifice. Visually, I'm looking forward to seeing how Taylor channels these different
02:09types of showgirls in this album theme. So which era of showgirl are you? Leave a comment.
Comments