"Love it," Taylor Swift says on the set of "The Fate of Ophelia"'s kaleidoscopic music video, playing in theaters now as part of the rollout for The Life of a Showgirl, her twelfth album. She's watching a playback of a bit of choreography—and, unbeknownst to her, sharing her thesis for the era's crystal-coated aesthetic. "Can I do one more to beat it?"
In the video, Swift transforms into different showgirls—or rather, performers—from throughout the ages: the model who depicts Ophelia in Sir John Everett Millais's 1851 painting of the drowning noblewoman, wearing a custom Alberta Ferretti gown and a flowing blonde wig; a dancer at the center of a Busby Berkeley routine, complete with a shimmering, customized Area bodysuit and pailette swim cap; a cabaret star in a broken-mirror dress by Roberto Cavalli; a Sarah J. Maas-esque heroine at sea in a silver Paolo Sebastian gown. Finally, she appears as Taylor Swift of the 2020s: Kelsey Randall crystalline naked dress, shaggy fur jacket, catching a football at a raucous concert after-party.
