Following a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! gave one last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, roughly eight years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more theatrical, show-stopping, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they danced across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Modern stars and other chart toppers also reference classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of crop tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed 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, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series 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, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the legacy of showgirls. “Today it is viewed as a sort of ‘safe’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the glamour, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Icon of Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was accompanied by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Chung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Appeal of Illusion
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift hints at in a latest behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, gym sessions and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy explains her own showgirl performances as “comparable to extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the steps to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re perspiring the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified dreams, flawlessness and a world where nobody makes a mistake.
