After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a media outlet. “Today's artists are embracing a show-stopping, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco 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 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded 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 conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. It’s something Swift hints at in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I performed. You are working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one falters.
