Rhinestones and ostrich feathers don’t just belong to Vegas revues or Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl. On August 25, decadent Venus heads into Leo, taking center stage in the zodiac’s most theatrical sign, and you now have permission to treat every sidewalk like a runway, even if it’s your daily walk to the corner store. Just don’t be fooled by the flashiness while this cycle simmers until September 19. Venus in Leo isn’t about spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It’s about reclaiming the pleasure of being visible, adored, and unapologetically taking up space.How badly do we want to be seen? This is quite a layered subject in a world that still privileges the male gaze. As Betty Friedan diagnosed in The Feminine Mystique in 1963, visibility for women often means being looked at rather than truly seen. Venus in Leo invites a reclamation on our own terms. We can revel in dressing up, pushing the envelope as far as we please.Getty + Design Darnell HendersonRoxane Gay picked up this thread a half-century later in Bad Feminist (2014), arguing that empowerment isn’t about maintaining some impossible purity test but about embracing contradictions. We can enjoy the schmaltz of a Justin Bieber ballad, thrill at the Love Island finale, or wear a sequined bodysuit without forfeiting our feminist credibility. Venus in Leo thrives in said contradiction: sovereignty and sparkle, performance and authenticity, all stitched together in the same costume.Venus may be the planetary fashionista, but it governs more than our wardrobes. It shapes how we attract and magnetize, how we define beauty, and how we negotiate worth in love and beyond. Leo, a fixed fire sign, adds structure to this story. If Aries is a match and Sagittarius is a bonfire, Leo is the hearth—contained flames with the capacity to build steady heat. When Venus blends her aesthetic instincts with that energy, we can cultivate a self-possessed style that endures as a signature look.Pamela Anderson is perhaps one of the most striking modern examples of Venus-in-Leo energy. Born with this placement in her birth chart, she spent decades as an object of the male gaze, including being cast as the archetypal blonde bombshell on Baywatch. Yet, in recent years, Anderson has rewritten her role. Appearing makeup-free on red carpets, she is redefining glamour on her own terms. Her role in The Last Showgirl explored the complex issue of female aging in a world that often defines our worth by our physicality. Anderson hasn’t abandoned performance; it’s that she has stripped it down to something self-authored. That, too, is Venus in Leo.Related StoryBold, Luxe Gifts Every Leo Will LovePop culture has been serving this lesson elsewhere. Consider Carrie Bradshaw, eternally our patron saint of impractical footwear, wandering through her Gramercy Park townhouse in And Just Like That… Throughout the final season, Carrie teeters between self-sacrifice and self-possession. (Aidan, Duncan, or…?) She almost gives up her own needs for the sake of a relationship, then pivots in a move that feels quintessentially Venus-in-Leo: putting her own joy first and rewriting the ending. As her closing epilogue put it: “The woman realized she was not alone—she was on her own.”So what does this mean for us mere mortals without access to Manolo Blahnik’s archives or Taylor Swift’s tour budget? Venus in Leo insists we explore our own “showgirl” moments—not necessarily on a stage, but in the places where we’ve been hesitant to be seen. It could be finally posting about a creative project, dressing for ourselves instead of an audience, or saying the thing we’ve swallowed for too long in a relationship. There’s risk in exposure, yes. But there’s also intimacy in it.Rather than burn bright for applause, Venus in Leo offers us four solid weeks to tend our own flame. We don’t need permission—or anyone’s gaze—in order to be radiant. This season, the showgirl act is knowing we can bring down the house simply by being ourselves.Related StoriesLeo Astrological ProfileLeo Love Compatibility Chart