Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, 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 ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
