Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
