After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
