The Life of a Showgirl: The Crowd Is Your King
Worn On: 10/3/25 // the life of a showgirl
the commentary
It’s early to say, especially as I believe a key part of understanding the visuals of Taylor’s art is contextualizing it alongside the other half of the story: the lyrics, but this shot and the corresponding cover for The Life of a Showgirl: The Crowd Is Your King variant might be my favourite shots from this shoot yet. Here, Taylor wears a velvet corset by The Blonds styled with another Jubilee! headdress by Bob Mackie. According to Vegas stylist Jose Rodrigo, this is part of Jubilee!’s original collection and by his expertise Taylor’s team added the feathers. Those glittery strass Louboutins were the perfect finisher. Taylor wears other pieces by The Blonds throughout Showgirl’s album visuals. This particular piece is sourced from the Fall 2023 runway which designer David Blond described as being heavily inspired by Elizabeth Taylor and her famed love of jewelry. “It’s all about celebration of color, sparkle, glamour,” he said, adding, “This is sort of a tribute to Elizabeth Taylor, one of our style icons, and the idea of falling in and out of love.” Our Taylor, of course, name checks Elizabeth Taylor on The Life of a Showgirl - another example of a fashion Easter Egg at play.
There’s a lot of potential symbolism in this one image that I hope is a precursor to the album’s contents. Being split into different frames, positions, moments, feelings seems reminiscent of the “shattered” filter effect present across all the covers. Like different facets of the same person, refracting whatever the viewer wants to see. But my other thought was how this isn’t the first time we’ve seen Taylor play with the meta concept I immediately thought of the “I Can See You” music video where Taylor is rescued from a locked vault. A museum exhibit making a demonstration of the artifacts of her past is sacrificed to an explosion. The only thing she carries with her? An image of herself in a gilded frame. Showgirl was likely written and produced too early to include the conclusion of her journey to acquire her masters. Regardless, it is still her first release with her entire discography in her ownership. By extension, it feels right that in these album visuals she’s captured in all her glittering showgirl glory. Not surrounded by testaments to her past, but snapshots of her bright and dazzling present.
the clothes
* Not available for purchaseFeature Photo by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott