Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a world where no one falters.
