After a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his trademark look, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and numerous performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
