After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan 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 called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
