Why 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Sparkling Aesthetic of 2025

After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.

The Sultan of Glitz

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted 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 knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

She says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.

The Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”

Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.