Why 'Showgirl' Transformed into the Dazzling Aesthetic of This Year

After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.

The Sultan of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. 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 sparkly 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 whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Coveted Classic Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas

Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.