🔗 Share this article

After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.

Now, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.

The King of Sparkle

Referred to as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his signature style, clothing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.

“I believe it looks more attractive for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Today's artists are pushing toward a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”

A Musical Revival

It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.

She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they danced across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, her performers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.

Drawing from the Past

Modern stars and other hitmakers also draw on historical performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.

But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”

A Coveted Retro Style

For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon paid tribute to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent beaded 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 private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.

“The showgirl aesthetic bring about a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”

A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas

She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a remaining figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.

The Appeal of Illusion

Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. It’s something Swift references in a new docuseries that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling preparations, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.

The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”

It could be this is where the true allure of the showgirl really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where no one makes a mistake.