After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think 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. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a latest docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
