After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
