After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by 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 latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
