After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- 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 encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price 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 trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
