How 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Sparkling Look of 2025
Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
