Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
