Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
