Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. 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 today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
