After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are sweating the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
