Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Transformed into the Glittering Style of 2025

After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

A Sultan of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City

She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Escape

Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.