After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted 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”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform 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 are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
