Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
