After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform 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 performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
