Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
