🔗 Share this article

Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.

A King of Sequins

Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount 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 a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”

More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City

The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.