After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion 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 new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
