Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
