How 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Sparkling Aesthetic of This Year
Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.