🔗 Share this article Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Dazzling Look of 2025 Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”. Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback. The Sultan of Glitz Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200. “In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.” A Mainstream Revival It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl. The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories. Pulling from History Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier. But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.” A Highly Sought-After Classic Style For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors. “This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.” More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says. The Appeal of Transformation Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours. The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.” It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.