After a long-running run on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the production Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its ornate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a metallic beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl revival. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, a curator at the University of Nevada, who documents the history of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the crystals and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, showing up at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Is there anyone better to emulate than showgirls, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.
