After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
