After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
