Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created 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 significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style inspire a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer alludes to in a latest docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody misses a mark.
