Following a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sequins
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift alludes to in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
