Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a recent documentary series that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
