After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
