Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Dazzling Style of 2025
After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded 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 younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift references in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.