How 'Showgirl' Transformed into the Dazzling Aesthetic of 2025

After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

The King of Sequins

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Mainstream Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style

For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas

The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.