Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
