After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed 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 grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
