Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled 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 desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
