After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like 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 backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
