Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded 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 younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
