Following a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its ornate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view 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 striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from the Past
Modern stars and other hitmakers also reference classic performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, 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, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where no one misses a mark.
