After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
