Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Dazzling Aesthetic of 2025

Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

The King of Glitz

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”

The Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”

The Coveted Retro Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.