🔗 Share this article

Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.

The King of Sequins

Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Resurgence

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.

Drawing from the Past

These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”

A Highly Sought-After Classic Look

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”

A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas

The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.

An Allure of Illusion

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”

Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.