After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view 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 newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also reference historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. 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 apparently today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
