Why 'Showgirl' Emerged as the Glittering Aesthetic of the New Year

Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

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

A Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from Tradition

Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.

“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”

A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”

Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.