After a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
The King of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look 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 some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This idea Swift references in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, training and countless performances across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
