Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
