Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price 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 series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
