Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a new documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
