After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
