Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
