Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Coveted Classic Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, training and numerous shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
