Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed 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 fashion collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
