After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board 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 title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
