After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
