🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Sparkle

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City

The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.

An Appeal of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.