How 'Showgirl' Became the Dazzling Style of 2025
Following a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral 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, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
