Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, 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 shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, strategic openings and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the 90s teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored 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 similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an undisclosed sum 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says a historian, an expert at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of the City
The expert says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
