After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, 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 entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored 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. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
