After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated 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, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
