After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
