After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed 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 seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are embracing 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 epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
