Following a long-running stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, known for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is making a comeback.
A Master of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted 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 looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he explained to a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been adopted by music artists including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from the Past
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly today's icons.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Illusion
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This is a notion Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this image that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody falters.
