Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography 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, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
