After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral 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 no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
