Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical 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 latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something the singer references in a recent documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one falters.
