Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial 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 star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
