Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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 trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
