Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
The expert says this figure are integral to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She describes her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a realm where nobody falters.