After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. 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 employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one falters.
