After a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always represented make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
