Following a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A Master of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the centre of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“Showgirls bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Just Style: An Icon of the City
She says showgirls are key to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, workouts and countless performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to turn to than these performers, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
