Why 'Showgirl' Became the Dazzling Aesthetic of 2025
Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
