After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
