Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied 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, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
