After a 31-year tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the dancers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The production, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, came to an end due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who labeled it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, nearly ten years later, showgirls, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he created for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a theatrical, more dramatic, breathtaking, memorable statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and glittering headpiece were ideal for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, cut-outs and ostrich feathers, illuminated against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator a fashion expert told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 1950s, her performers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of revealing tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are on board with this showgirl renaissance. Nancy Hardy, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “confusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even Taylor Swift.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through sequined dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by 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 at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“Showgirls inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still featured as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Swift references in a latest behind-the-scenes film that captures the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 shows across multiple nations, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own stage routines as “similar to running a marathon in heels every night”. Her headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to head up ahead of time for my entrance so I could rest before I went on stage. You are sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s simple and beautiful and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented fantasy, perfection and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
