Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, 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. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a recent docuseries that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support 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 cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
