After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear 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 start early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where nobody falters.
