After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
