Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut 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 shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
