Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, 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, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic 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 showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering 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 vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic 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 researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
