Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus 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 certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
