After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are poles apart from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
