Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Transformed into the Sparkling Aesthetic of 2025

Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

The King of Sparkle

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage 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 named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Vintage Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro 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 translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where nobody falters.