After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and countless performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to 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 backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
