Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon 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 ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to 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 stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
