🔗 Share this article Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Transformed into the Glittering Aesthetic of 2025 Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”. Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back. A Master of Glitz Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200. “I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.” The Musical Revival It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl. She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories. Drawing from Tradition These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend. But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.” A Highly Sought-After Classic Look For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded 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, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors. “The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.” More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says. The Appeal of Illusion The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours. She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece 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 underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.” It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.