Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
