Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage 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 titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced 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 umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
