After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its ornate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical reviewers who labeled it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Now, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
The Master of Sparkle
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a theatrical, more theatrical, show-stopping, grand statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Dua Lipa as they danced across concert platforms in sequins, strategic openings and plumes, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also reference 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and chorus line references. The final look are worlds away from the 1990s era teen pop of short shirts and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For gen Z and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style inspire fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still used as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, workouts and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
