Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert 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 told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
