After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators 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 King of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
