After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, almost a decade later, the showgirl, 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 signature style, dressing everyone from Marilyn Monroe to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, seven times its projected value, while a shimmering beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are striving for a show-stopping, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, memorable statement.”
A Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of the cultural zeitgeist in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were tailor-made for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by singers including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against camp sets. Her fashion curator her creative director explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 50s, Lipa’s dancers wafted giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including classic theater and chorus line references. The final look are poles apart from the late-century teen pop of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But not everyone are on board with this showgirl revival. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the early 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “treated as an broad label including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, Miley Cyrus paid an significant price to buy the Mackie fringed mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a series of classic Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a favorite among collectors.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, head of special collections at the a Las Vegas university, who documents the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘toned-down’ allure because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the rhinestones and the sparkle but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the imagery of Vegas. She points to ex-mayor Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas does not host any showgirl-centric productions, Jung says they are still employed as an logo of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a enduring icon of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” she says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This is a notion Taylor Swift alludes to in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the backstage action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting practice sessions, gym sessions and countless concerts across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to start early for my cue so I could recover before I went on stage. One is sweating the whole time but maintaining this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the appeal of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for a break from reality. What better figure to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, idealism and a world where no one makes a mistake.
