After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
