After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are integral to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
