Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances 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 platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
