Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
