After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro 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 Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a latest documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
