ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the words of different kinds of showgirls, using interviews, memoirs, and social media presence in order to get a sense of how they embody ‘the showgirl’ and relate to costume and glamour that they animate. What emerged from this research was the complexity of the showgirl reflections – the skill necessary to embody, present, and perform spectacle is more than a case of putting on the costume. To paraphrase, one interviewee spoke of glamour as a vase or container that she must fill up from the inside in order to create a performance. These insights are related to stances within popular feminism and theories of glamour and gender.
Throughout the text I discuss artworks that guide us to reflect more meaningfully on what bodies on display might mean, as art is so deft at handling dichotomies, providing space for thinking.
