After a long-running tenure on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! gave one last choreographed kick in 2016. The extravaganza, known for its elaborate costumes designed by American fashion designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to declining audience numbers and critical critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Today, roughly eight years later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is experiencing a revival.
The Master of Sequins
Known as the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made theatrical showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “naked” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its initial estimate, while a metallic tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more appealing for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they knew from childhood”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are pushing toward a glamorous, more spectacular, show-stopping, grand statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Recently, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and glittering headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
The singer has company. This year, showgirl references have been incorporated by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across world tours in sparkles, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, spotlighted against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director told Vogue he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – drawing from pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers fluttered giant ostrich feather fans.
Pulling from Tradition
Modern stars and other successful musicians also draw on historical entertainment forms, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The results are vastly different from the 1990s era teen pop of crop tops and cargo pants, and street-style dance moves that came before them.
But certain observers are on board with this showgirl revival. An ex-showgirl, a former Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 2000s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “treated as an broad label covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even today's icons.”
The Highly Sought-After Retro Style
For younger and young adult stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actor wore a semi-sheer beaded dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he designed for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie tasseled 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 favorite among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a bygone era of glitz,” says an archivist, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Now it is seen as a sort of ‘safe’ allure because it has been modified. It has got all the elegance, the rhinestones and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
A Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says the showgirl image are key to the identity of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas does not host any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, appearing at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining symbol of Las Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Escape
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This idea the singer references in a new docuseries that captures the off-camera action from her year-long 2023 Eras tour, which included intense practice sessions, training and 149 concerts across multiple nations, each running for 3.5 hours.
The performer explains her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the stairs to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You are working hard the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and gorgeous and magical.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to emulate than such icons, who have always personified dreams, perfection and a universe where nobody falters.
