🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

The Sultan of Glitz

Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”

A Mainstream Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas

Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.