🔗 Share this article

Following a long-running stint on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.

Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.

A Sultan of Sparkle

Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“In my view 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. “New stars are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist a fashion expert explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.

Pulling from the Past

Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”

The Coveted Retro Style

For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina 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 bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the University of Nevada, who researches the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the nudity.”

More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas

She says the showgirl image are key to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Las Vegas glamour,” Chung says.

The Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous shows across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

Hardy recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the stage from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my moment so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s easy and beautiful and magical.”

Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied fantasy, idealism and a universe where no one falters.