Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
