Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
