How 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Sparkling Aesthetic of 2025

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host 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 enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

The Appeal of Illusion

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.