Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist 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 latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
