After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé 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 seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
