How 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Dazzling Look of This Year

After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

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

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Classic Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.