🔗 Share this article How 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Dazzling Style of 2025 Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”. Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival. A Master of Glitz Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200. “I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.” A Mainstream Revival It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl. Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans. Pulling from Tradition Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them. But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.” The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors. “Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.” More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says. The Allure of Escape Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours. She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.” Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy 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 represented make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.