Following a 31-year stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its ornate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his trademark look, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
A Musical Comeback
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The crystal-covered bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other chart toppers also draw on 19th-century entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The outcome are poles apart from the late-century Britney Spears era of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “bemusing”. 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 apparently today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously 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 inspire nostalgia for a past glamour,” says an archivist, an expert at the University of Nevada, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of the City
Chung says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas no longer has any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still featured as an logo of the city, showing up at conventions and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. It’s something the singer alludes to in a new documentary series that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and countless shows across dozens of cities, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own nights in the spotlight as “like running a marathon in high heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s simple and gorgeous and magical.”
Maybe this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, idealism and a universe where nobody falters.
