Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
She says the showgirl image are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked 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 promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
