After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference 19th-century performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. 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 apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Classic Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum 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 trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
