After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is experiencing a revival.
The Sultan of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Look
For gen Z and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus 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, Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a universe where no one misses a mark.
