Following a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, her performers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a world where no one falters.
