After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and countless concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
