After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
