How 'Showgirl' Became the Sparkling Look of the New Year
After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured 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.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.