After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from the Past
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Style
For younger 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 actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one falters.
