After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
