After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
