Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one makes a mistake.
