Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
