After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.
