Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
