After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished 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 tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where no one falters.
