After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. 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 glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent 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 private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
