After a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and unimpressed commentators who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The Sultan of Glitz
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his trademark look, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the new generation of stars who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a publication. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a show-stopping, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a chart-topping superstar. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, showgirl references have been embraced by singers including Dua Lipa as they whizzed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. A top stylist her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other hitmakers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The final look are vastly different from the late-century Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “employed as an catch-all phrase covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Retro Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy 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
Chung says this figure are central to the identity of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, appearing at corporate events and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a lasting icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
An Allure of Escape
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that captures the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, workouts and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
She explains her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Is there anyone better to emulate than such icons, who have always embodied fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
