After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable 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 steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
