After a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its ornate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert 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 knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, training and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls 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 backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
