Following a 31-year run on the Las Vegas strip, the performers from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last synchronised kick in 2016. The extravaganza, famous for its elaborate costumes crafted by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and disappointed critics who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, roughly eight years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A Sultan of Glitz
Known as the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glamour his defining aesthetic, clothing everyone from Hollywood icons to music superstars. In a recent auction, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a metallic fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 concert sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “New stars are pushing toward a theatrical, more dramatic, attention-grabbing, entrance-making statement.”
The Pop Culture Revival
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the centre of popular culture in 2025 propelled by Taylor Swift. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her 12th studio album. The crystal-covered bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record titled The Life of a Showgirl.
She has company. This year, showgirl inspirations have been incorporated by singers including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in sequins, strategic openings and ostrich feathers, highlighted against theatrical sets. Lipa’s stylist a fashion expert mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a showgirl attitude” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the 1950s, her performers wafted giant plumed accessories.
Drawing from Tradition
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including burlesque and dance line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 1990s era Britney Spears era of revealing tops and utilitarian trousers, and street-style dance moves that were popular earlier.
But not everyone are on board with this glamour resurgence. Nancy Hardy, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “employed as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Coveted Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the star wore a translucent sequined dress created by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Subsequently, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year 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 fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke a sense of longing for a historical elegance,” says an archivist, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who studies the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been adapted. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
The expert says showgirls are key to the identity of Sin City. She points to former mayor Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was surrounded by two showgirls. Although Las Vegas currently lacks any traditional showgirl productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, appearing at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring symbol of Vegas glitz and glamour,” the expert says.
An Allure of Transformation
The former showgirl says the complete change of a stage character is part of the appeal. This idea Swift hints at in a new behind-the-scenes film that shows the off-camera action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 performances across dozens of cities, each running for 3.5 hours.
She describes her own nights in the spotlight as “similar to extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her feathered headdress tipped the scales at 34lbs. “I had to wear it all the way up the steps to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the lower level. I had to leave early for my moment so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but crafting this image that it’s easy and gorgeous and ethereal.”
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. What better figure to emulate than such icons, who have always represented dreams, flawlessness and a realm where no one falters.
