After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due 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, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps 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 catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
