How 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Glittering Look of This Year
After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view 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. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut 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 perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.