Following a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl aesthetic, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glamour his signature style, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “naked” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the new generation of stars who is looking for something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
A Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that glided all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by music artists including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in sequins, revealing designs and feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the late-century teen pop of short shirts and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. 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 even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a translucent beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star 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, the singer wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Currently it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Vegas
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still employed as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that documents the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own nights in the spotlight as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my moment so I could catch my breath before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Is there anyone better to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
