How 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Glittering Style of the New Year
After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled 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 adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.