How 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Dazzling Style of 2025
After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.