How 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Dazzling Look of the New Year

After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Sultan of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from History

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.