Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
