After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 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 lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
