Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing 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. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal 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 Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a new docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where nobody misses a mark.
