After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut 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 shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
