Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his trademark look, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s pop style of short shirts and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the star wore a see-through sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show 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 popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift references in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. What better figure to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
