After a three-decade tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its elaborate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “trapped in time”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Master of Glitz
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his signature style, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. In a recent auction, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is desiring something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are embracing a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the heart of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
She is part of a trend. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in glitter, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other hitmakers also take inspiration from 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and ensemble references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are convinced with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Retro Look
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among fashion collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic evoke a sense of longing for a past glamour,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is considered a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at conventions and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a latest documentary series that shows the backstage action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and 149 performances across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like completing an endurance race in heels every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the basement. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is working hard the whole time but maintaining this image that it’s effortless and beautiful and magical.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a desire for escapism. Who better to look to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a realm where nobody makes a mistake.
