🔗 Share this article

Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Pop Culture Revival

It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, 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 sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Retro Look

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

She says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung 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 lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Appeal of Escape

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one falters.