🔗 Share this article

After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.

A Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”

A Musical Comeback

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.

An Appeal of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

She describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.