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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Chloe Mac Donnell

How ‘showgirl’ became the sparkling look of 2025

Undated handout publicity photo of Taylor Swift, for the release of her 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl.
“Sequins are forever”… Taylor Swift channels showgirls. Photograph: Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott/PA

After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by the American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

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