Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
