Following a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The final look are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board 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 is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created 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 earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
