After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
