Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. 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 bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift references in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
