After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless 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 longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
