Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
