After a 31-year tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
A Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
The Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for fantasy. Who better to turn to than showgirls, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a realm where no one falters.
