Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage 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 called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, 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 glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are 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 really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
