After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised 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 described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
