After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed 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 newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
