Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
