Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform 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 went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
