After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, 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 chart-topping superstar. Recently, 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, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
