Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original 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 named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress created 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 undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
