Why 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Dazzling Style of 2025
Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.