After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
