Following a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the production Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century pop style of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded 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 popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest docuseries that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to look to than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one makes a mistake.
