Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century pop style of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something the singer hints at in a new documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
