After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective 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 seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original 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, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one misses a mark.
