How 'Showgirl' Became the Glittering Look of the New Year
Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
