After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Glitz
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert 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 explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a style publication 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.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a realm where nobody falters.
