After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed 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 new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue 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 reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
