After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
