How 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Sparkling Style of 2025

After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A Sultan of Sequins

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Vintage Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.