Why 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Glittering Aesthetic of This Year
After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of 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, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where no one falters.
