Following a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
