🔗 Share this article How 'Showgirl' Became the Dazzling Style of 2025 Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”. Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back. A King of Sparkle Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200. “I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.” The Musical Comeback It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, 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 glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl. She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans. Drawing from the Past Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend. But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.” A Highly Sought-After Classic Style For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors. “This style bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.” More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says. The Allure of Illusion The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours. The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.” It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.