After a three-decade tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a new documentary series that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
