After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its intricate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan 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 sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also reference classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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 series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a world where no one falters.
