After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
A Sultan of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a show-stopping, more theatrical, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The outcome are vastly different from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas glamour,” Chung says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a recent documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “comparable to running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could rest before I performed. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to turn to than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
