After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and plumes, highlighted against overstated sets. Lipa’s stylist Lorenzo Posocco explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously 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 collectors.
“This style inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the shine but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
