After a 31-year run on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The production, known for its ornate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also reference classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the allure. This is a notion Taylor Swift references in a recent documentary series that captures the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and numerous concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could catch my breath before I performed. One is working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to turn to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, idealism and a realm where nobody falters.
