After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus 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, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
