After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering 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 incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
