After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon 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 glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
