After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
