Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by 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, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
