How 'Showgirl' Transformed into the Sparkling Style of 2025

After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Coveted Retro Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.