Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Sparkling Aesthetic of 2025

Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded 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 popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.