After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding 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.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area 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 perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
