🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

The Highly Sought-After Retro Look

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City

Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Allure of Transformation

Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.

Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.