After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé 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 grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
