After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
