After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum 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 series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
