After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed 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 popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
