Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area 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 perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
