After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece 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 leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
