After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus 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, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says this figure are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift references in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
