Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told 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 ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
