The Dazzling History of the Showgirl

Feathers, sequins and sky-high headdresses may be the hallmarks of the showgirl, but her legacy is woven from far more than sparkle. For generations, she has stood as a symbol of reinvention. Beneath the glamour runs a cultural lineage that stretches from the cabarets of 19th-century Paris, through Broadway’s Ziegfeld Follies and the stages of Las Vegas.

“The showgirl embraces specificity,” says Holly Gannett, a choreographer at Kennebec Dance Center and vice president of the Maine Dance Teachers Club. “It requires precision, the ability to pick up choreography incredibly quickly and memorize a lot of dances that are significant lengths. I think the bar continues to be set higher and higher every decade with this type of performance.”

The word “showgirl” first appeared in the mid-1700s when it was used to describe women who behaved in a “showy” manner to draw attention. By the early 1800s, newspapers had begun using the phrase to performers. One 1808 clipping from London’s The Observer refers to the melodrama “Lilian, the Show Girl,” showing the term was in circulation well before the showgirl archetype took shape.

In the decades after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, Paris entered the Belle Époque, a period of prosperity, indulgence and artistic experimentation. Cafés and cabarets featured chanteuses performing in intimate settings that mixed music, poetry and conversation. One of the most famous, Le Chat Noir, opened in Montmartre in 1881 and quickly became a gathering place for artists, writers and musicians.

As the Belle Époque went on, entertainment grew ever more elaborate. The Folies Bergère and the Moulin Rouge debuted and quickly became prominent showcases, offering variety acts, the high-kicking cancan, comedy and risqué performances that attracted large audiences. These venues captured the spirit of a city in flux, where industrial wealth, shifting morals and fascination with modernity encouraged bold new forms of expression. The modern showgirl emerged as both a symbol of freedom and a mirror of society’s changing dynamics.

By the early 20th century, the Parisian revue had crossed the Atlantic. In 1907, Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld introduced American audiences to a more theatrical version with the Ziegfeld Follies. Modeled after the Folies Bergère and originally created by Ziegfeld’s mistress, Anna Held, these productions blended vaudeville comedy, popular music and dance. But what set them apart was Ziegfeld’s insistence on extravagance. Costumes, designed by legends like Erté, featured shimmering gowns, jewels and feathered headdresses that could tower several feet high.

“Chorus girls [or chorines] have been popular in the U.S. since The Black Crook [which debuted in 1866 and is often considered the first American musical],” says historian Eve Golden. “Ziegfeld glorified them, choosing girls who were not necessarily good dancers. He chose the loveliest girls and set them off like jewels. Many of them went on to become movie stars or legit actresses.”

Hollywood embraced the showgirl aesthetic in the 1930s and 1940s, when musicals placed entire choruses of dancers on screen. Films like 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933 featured film director and choreographer Busby Berkeley’s trademark overhead shots, arranging performers into patterns that turned synchronized movement into a kind of living kaleidoscope for mass audiences.

These productions helped secure the showgirl’s place in American popular culture. Offscreen, performers like Ginger Rogers and Eleanor Powell drew from vaudeville and Broadway influences, combining elegance with athletic precision and sharp comedic timing. Through their performances, the showgirl shifted from a static emblem of glamour to a more dynamic figure—marked by confidence and distinctly modern appeal.

The stage that would define the modern showgirl took shape in Las Vegas during the postwar years of the 1950s. As the city sought to establish itself as the entertainment capital of the world, the casino floor was paired with lavish stage productions, and the showgirl became the centerpiece.

In 1958, the Lido de Paris opened at the Stardust Hotel, bringing Parisian cabaret style directly to the Strip. The success of that production sparked a wave of other revues. Shows such as Jubilee! and the Las Vegas edition of Folies Bergère raised the bar for costumes and stagecraft, featuring plumes that stretched six feet high, rhinestones sewn by the thousands and sets ranging from erupting volcanoes to a full-scale sinking Titanic.

By the 1960s and 1970s the showgirl had become inseparable from Las Vegas itself. Her image appeared on billboards, postcards and neon signs across the city.

The showgirl has reflected the evolution of entertainment and the shifting place of women in public life. Modern artists continue to draw from this legacy. Performers such as Beyoncé and Lady Gaga have incorporated showgirl imagery into concerts and videos. Burlesque and drag have reinterpreted the aesthetic with new layers of theatricality. And a 2025 Taylor Swift album draws on this history, acknowledging not only the glamour but also the cultural weight of a figure that has been reinvented again and again.