Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress 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. Months after, a singer paid an significant price 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 retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
