After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut 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 glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of the City
Chung says the showgirl image are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
