Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro 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 a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
