🔗 Share this article

After a three-decade run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, known for its elaborate costumes designed by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.

Today, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.

A Master of Sparkle

Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.

“I think it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a media outlet. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more theatrical, breathtaking, grand statement.”

The Musical Revival

It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.

Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by pop stars including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in glitter, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.

Drawing from History

Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The results are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.

But some critics are convinced with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

The Highly Sought-After Classic Style

For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress 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, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.

“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Currently it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been modified. 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 this figure are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.

An Allure of Transformation

Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. It’s something Swift hints at in a latest documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, workouts and countless concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.

The performer recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and magical.”

Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied fantasy, perfection and a universe where no one misses a mark.