Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted 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 mid-century, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
