🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.

A King of Glitz

Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Comeback

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.

Drawing from History

Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.

But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus 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 fashion collectors.

“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol 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 Allure of Transformation

The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.

She explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.