After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic 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 enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator 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 waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.