Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan 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 named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 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 lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
