After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
