Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, 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 glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery 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 showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea the singer alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
