After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are integral 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 does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
