After a three-decade stint on the iconic Vegas strip, the dancers from the revue Jubilee! took a final synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, renowned for its elaborate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed reviewers who called it a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the showgirl style, is making a comeback.
A King of Glitz
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from screen legends to music superstars. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, seven times its estimated price, while a silver and gold tasseled bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“In my view it looks more appealing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he explained to a publication. “New stars are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
The Musical Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 largely due to a global pop icon. Earlier this year, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s original Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and shimmering headpiece were ideal for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by music artists including Sabrina Carpenter as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, cut-outs and plumes, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl spirit” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the 50s, her performers waved giant plumed accessories.
Pulling from History
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from 19th-century entertainment forms, including classic theater and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are convinced with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 2000s says the trend is “bemusing”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an broad label encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Highly Sought-After Classic Style
For millennial and millennial stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya gave a nod to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was similar to one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a series of vintage Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“The showgirl aesthetic inspire a sense of longing for a bygone era of glitz,” says a historian, a curator at the a Las Vegas university, who studies the history of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been adapted. It has got all the glamour, the sparkles and the glitter but without the exposure.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of the City
She says this figure are central to the iconography of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Jung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, being present at gatherings and in marketing. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas spectacle,” the expert says.
The Appeal of Transformation
The former showgirl says the transformative effect of a showgirl is part of the appeal. This is a notion the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the behind-the-scenes action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling rehearsals, training and numerous performances across multiple nations, each going on for 3.5 hours.
The performer describes her own showgirl performances as “like running a marathon in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the performance area from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my cue so I could rest before I made my entrance. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this illusion that it’s effortless and stunning and ethereal.”
It could be this is where the appeal of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for escapism. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always personified make-believe, flawlessness and a universe where nobody makes a mistake.
