After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and critical commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star 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, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says this figure are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, gym sessions and countless shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the true allure of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, idealism and a realm where nobody misses a mark.
