Why 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Dazzling Style of 2025
After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry 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 moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
