After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody misses a mark.
