Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For gen Z and modern 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 actor wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum 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 collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where no one falters.
