After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original 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 titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
