Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed 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 favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
