After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
