Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded 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 new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one falters.
