🔗 Share this article

After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Master of Sequins

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”

The Musical Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.

But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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.

“This style bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where nobody falters.