Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
