Why 'Showgirl' Transformed into the Dazzling Look of 2025

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.