After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection 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 bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one falters.
