Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
