After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through 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 private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
