Following a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
