After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
