Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial 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 actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
