Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount 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 inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story 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 crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
