After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
