After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining 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 making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. 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, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 favorite among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the history of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
Chung says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion the singer alludes to in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps 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 moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.
