How 'Showgirl Glamour' Transformed into the Glittering Look of the New Year

Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The King of Sparkle

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”

The Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from Tradition

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Classic Style

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.

“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City

Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress 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 cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one falters.