After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
