After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
