Following a 31-year stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, renowned for its ornate costumes created by style icon Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who called it a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
The King of Sparkle
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to Madonna. Recently, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective 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 looking for something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “Today's artists are embracing a glamorous, more dramatic, breathtaking, grand statement.”
The Musical Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
These artists and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic performances, including classic theater and dance line references. The results are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that were popular earlier.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “used as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a semi-sheer embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who researches the history of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of the City
Chung says showgirls are key to the imagery of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, the historian says they are still employed as an emblem of the city, showing up at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting preparations, workouts and numerous concerts across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She recalls her own showgirl performances as “similar to completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could catch my breath before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s effortless and stunning and magical.”
Maybe this is where the appeal of the showgirl really is found. In the complexity of 2025 there is a longing for a break from reality. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
