After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
