Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
