After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
