After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created 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 beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
