After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and modern 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 star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
