After a long-running tenure on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, came to an end due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A Master of Sequins
Known as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made theatrical stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also reference classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are poles apart from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and cargo pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Vintage Style
For gen Z and modern stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by 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 previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a trio of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the legacy of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the iconography of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, being present at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl is part of the attraction. It’s something Taylor Swift alludes to in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I made my entrance. You are perspiring the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s simple and stunning and ethereal.”
Maybe this is where the true allure of the showgirl really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to look to than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a world where nobody falters.
