Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century pop style of revealing tops 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 former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.