Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer hints at in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
