After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
