Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
