Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry 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 entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
