After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult 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 translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
