Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s 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 apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
