🔗 Share this article How 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Sparkling Aesthetic of 2025 After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”. Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback. A Sultan of Sequins Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200. “I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.” A Musical Comeback It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl. Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans. Drawing from Tradition Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend. But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.” A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors. “Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.” More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says. The Allure of Escape Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours. Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.” It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.