After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across world tours in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
