Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry 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 head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
