After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, 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 – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
