After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled 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 seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
