After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, known for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed critics who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is experiencing a revival.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from History
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century pop style of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 hit among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, the historian says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the allure. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, training and countless shows across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own stage routines as “comparable to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to start early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but crafting this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Is there anyone better to look to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
