Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. 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 seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a new documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
