After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical 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 – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
