After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the showgirls from the revue Jubilee! took a final perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, renowned for its intricate costumes created by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to declining audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Referred to as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, outfitting everyone from Marilyn Monroe to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its initial estimate, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more enticing for the younger performer who is looking for something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are striving for a glamorous, more spectacular, attention-grabbing, grand statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that made its way all the way to the heart of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Recently, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were perfect for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift is part of a trend. This year, showgirl inspirations have been embraced by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across arena stages in sparkles, revealing designs and plumes, spotlighted against overstated sets. A top stylist Lorenzo Posocco told a style publication he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 1950s, the backup dancers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Modern stars and other chart toppers also take inspiration from historical performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The final look are worlds away from the 90s pop style of crop tops and cargo pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who performed in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “treated as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, a style icon honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a see-through embellished dress created by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, Miley Cyrus paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the an academic institution, who studies the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the shine but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says this figure are integral to the iconography of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during official events, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting figure of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
An Allure of Escape
Hardy says the magical transformation of a stage character is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, gym sessions and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “like completing an endurance race in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to carry it all the way up the staircase to the stage from the green rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to head up ahead of time for my cue so I could rest before I performed. One is sweating the whole time but creating this image that it’s simple and gorgeous and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. What better figure to turn to than such icons, who have always personified fantasy, idealism and a realm where no one misses a mark.
