Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
