After a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and critical commentators who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more dramatic, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, illuminated against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among vintage enthusiasts.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire fond memories for a historical elegance,” says Su Kim Chung, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of the City
She says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though 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 advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glamour,” she says.
An Appeal of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a latest documentary series that documents the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and numerous performances across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and stunning and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
