Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
