After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
