Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining 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 style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. 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 Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro 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 bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
