Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
