After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
