Why 'Showgirl' Became the Sparkling Style of 2025
Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
