After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
