Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist 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 bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
