Following a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
The King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his trademark look, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view 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 newspaper. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star 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 vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”
A Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea the singer alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that shows the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
