After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the identity of Las 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, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
