After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, 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 seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage 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 translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, workouts and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 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 leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
