Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 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 start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
