Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. 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 rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
