Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over 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.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, 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, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances 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 stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
