After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography 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-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
