Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
