Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor 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, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
