Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of 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 traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a recent documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
