How 'Showgirl' Became the Glittering Aesthetic of the New Year
Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.