After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a publication. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they zoomed across concert platforms in sequins, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
These artists and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent embellished dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
Chung says this figure are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, showing up at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “comparable to running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry 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 entrance so I could rest before I made my entrance. You are working hard the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to look to than these performers, who have always represented dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
