Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, 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 attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like 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 steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
