After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, 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 defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
