After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
