After a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas Boulevard, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and unimpressed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering fringed bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he told a media outlet. “New stars are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 thanks to a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, glamorous nods have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across concert platforms in sparkles, cut-outs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert explained to Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other successful musicians also take inspiration from historical performances, including classic theater and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era pop style of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and urban dance moves that came before them.
But not everyone are enthusiastic with this showgirl renaissance. A former performer, a former Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an umbrella term including everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
A Coveted Classic Look
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress gave a nod to one of Mackie’s earliest clients, Cher, when the star wore a see-through beaded dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn at an awards show to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is seen as a sort of ‘toned-down’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the sparkle but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Style: An Symbol of Las Vegas
Chung says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Sin City. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still featured as an logo of the city, being present at conventions and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Vegas spectacle,” she says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the complete change of a showgirl persona is part of the appeal. This idea Taylor Swift hints at in a new docuseries that shows the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous concerts across 21 countries, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in heels every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the stairs to the stage from the backstage area three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are perspiring the whole time but maintaining this illusion that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really resides. In the busyness of 2025 there is a desire for a break from reality. Who better to emulate than these performers, who have always embodied dreams, perfection and a world where no one misses a mark.
