Following a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist 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 crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed 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.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where nobody falters.
