Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a silver and gold beaded 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 emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a world where no one misses a mark.
