Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
