🔗 Share this article How 'Showgirl' Transformed into the Glittering Aesthetic of 2025 After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”. Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back. The Master of Sequins Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200. “In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.” A Mainstream Comeback It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl. She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories. Drawing from Tradition Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend. But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.” The Coveted Classic Style For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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 series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors. “Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.” A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric 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 lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says. The Allure of Escape The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours. She describes her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.” It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a universe where no one falters.