After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed 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 hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could rest before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
