After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
