After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded 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 undisclosed sum 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
