After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of 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 previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.
