🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars 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 theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

The Pop Culture Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.

Pulling from History

These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”

A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look

For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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.

“This style evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City

The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.

The Allure of Escape

Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.