Following a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical 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 entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
