After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance 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 were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. 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, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. 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 maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
