Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon 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.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.