Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered 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 embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea the singer hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
