After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic 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 emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made 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, Carpenter wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls bring about a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy describes her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a world where no one falters.
