After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. 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 Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
