Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded 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 popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
