After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price 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 collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says this figure are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a world where no one misses a mark.
