🔗 Share this article Why 'Showgirl Glamour' Emerged as the Dazzling Look of the New Year After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”. Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback. The King of Sparkle Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200. “I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.” The Pop Culture Resurgence It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl. She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories. Drawing from the Past Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend. But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.” The Coveted Classic Look For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors. “Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.” A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says. The Appeal of Escape Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours. She describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.” Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one falters.