After a three-decade run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including burlesque and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of crop tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star 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. Subsequently, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense rehearsals, gym sessions and numerous shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a world where no one makes a mistake.
