After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. 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, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
