After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
