🔗 Share this article How 'Showgirl Glamour' Became the Dazzling Aesthetic of the New Year Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”. Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback. The Master of Sequins Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, 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 appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.” The Musical Comeback It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl. The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans. Drawing from Tradition Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier. But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.” A Coveted Retro Look For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded 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 favorite among collectors. “Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.” A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas Chung says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says. An Appeal of Transformation Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours. The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.” It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one falters.