How 'Showgirl' Became the Dazzling Look of 2025
Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
