Following a three-decade stint on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the spectacle Jubilee! executed their last choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes designed by style icon Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to falling audience numbers and disappointed commentators who described it as a spectacle “stuck in the past”.
Today, almost a decade later, the showgirl, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is making a comeback.
A King of Sparkle
Dubbed the “master of glitz”, Mackie has made dramatic stage sparkle his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to pop royalty. Earlier this month, a “barely-there” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 commanded $57,600, far exceeding its estimated price, while a silver and gold beaded bodysuit with lamé wings that Mackie designed for Tina Turner for a 1977 show sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they grew up with”, he told a newspaper. “Contemporary performers are embracing a show-stopping, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a global pop icon. In the past few months, the music phenomenon wore one of Mackie’s classic Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, ostrich-feather armbands and sparkly headpiece were tailor-made for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift isn't alone. This year, showgirl references have been adopted by pop stars including Miley Cyrus as they zoomed across world tours in glitter, revealing designs and ostrich feathers, highlighted against overstated sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco explained to a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – referencing pictures from the mid-century, the backup dancers waved giant ostrich feather fans.
Drawing from History
These artists and other hitmakers also draw on 19th-century performances, including vaudeville and chorus line references. The outcome are worlds away from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that came before them.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. A former performer, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl title is being “employed as an umbrella term encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now even modern pop stars.”
The Coveted Vintage Look
For millennial and young adult stars, Mackie’s retro designs have become incredibly sought-after. In 2024, Zendaya honored to one of Mackie’s first major stars, Cher, when the actress wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was inspired by one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Later that year, a singer paid an private amount to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn previously to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a trio of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among vintage enthusiasts.
“This style evoke nostalgia for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the University of Nevada, who documents the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been updated. It has got all the elegance, the crystals and the sparkle but without the nudity.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Symbol of Las Vegas
She says showgirls are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during civic functions, was surrounded by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still used as an emblem of the city, showing up at gatherings and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a enduring figure of Vegas spectacle,” Chung says.
The Allure of Illusion
Hardy says the magical transformation of a showgirl persona is part of the attraction. This idea the singer references in a new behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included exhausting rehearsals, training and 149 concerts across dozens of cities, each lasting 3.5 hours.
The performer recalls her own showgirl performances as “like extreme physical exertion in stilettos every night”. Her headdress weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the steps to the platform from the green rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I went on stage. You’re sweating the whole time but crafting this fantasy that it’s easy and beautiful and ethereal.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really is found. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for escapism. Who better to emulate than showgirls, who have always personified fantasy, flawlessness and a realm where no one misses a mark.
